PITTSBURGH — A convicted sex offender sent to Pittsburgh after serving his time in prison. On Friday, Target 11's Rick Earle sat down with the victim to talk about why she couldn't believe this.
For the past several months, Alicia Kozakiewicz has been fighting a legal battle to get the man who abducted and raped her 17 years ago moved out of Pittsburgh.
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"He wants to call Pittsburgh home. Pittsburgh will never be his home, it's my home,” she said.
Target 11’s Rick Earle was the first to expose that Scott Tyree had been released from prison to a halfway house less than four miles from the home where Kozakiewicz’s parents live in Crafton Heights.
This was the first time she has returned to Pittsburgh since learning Tyree was living here.
“It feels like my home and my family has been taken from me. It took a lot to come here for this meeting. It was really hard,” she said.
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Kozakiewicz says the federal Bureau of Prisons never told her that Tyree would be living here, and she learned it from Channel 11.
“I don't know if we would have known otherwise so thank you, thank you,” she said.
For the past several months, Kozakiewicz has been fighting in court to get Tyree relocated.
“I really figured, at first, someone would think, ‘Oh my gosh, we made a mistake. Let's fix it, we are so sorry,’” she said.
But it hasn't been easy. Both Tyree and the U.S. Attorney have opposed the move. Tyree's attorney, Damien Schorr, said Tyree is already settled in and has started learning a trade.
In court documents, Schorr criticized Kozakiewicz and her advocacy efforts, accusing her of continuing to “spread the tale she's been telling for the past 17 years.”
“How dare you say something like that in front of my family. How dare you this is what is wrong with you,” she said.
Tyree's attorney also argued that Kozakiewicz doesn't have any say in the case, but she disputed that.
“I do have a voice, I do have a standing and I will stand up,” she said.
Despite having no ties to the area, Tyree remains in Pittsburgh on electronic monitoring.
Meanwhile, Kozakiewicz has asked a federal judge to allow her to speak at a court hearing. The judge has yet to schedule that.