By Aaron Aupperlee
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
GREENSBURG, Pa. — A former Allegheny County Jail guard who admitted on Tuesday to punching an inmate in the face apologized and pleaded for leniency because he has a 7-year-old son, operates a family business and could be abused in prison.
Arii Metz, 34, of the North Side could receive 41 to 51 months in prison for pleading guilty to entering the cell of David Kipp, 24, of Polish Hill on Oct. 13, 2010, and punching him several times.
“If I could get on top of the USX building and apologize to the world, I would,” Metz said during a hearing in which his attorney sought to spare him a jail sentence.
Kipp, who was jailed on charges of stabbing his boyfriend, said he forgave Metz. He said physical injuries have healed, but mental scars linger.
Kipp pleaded guilty to simple assault in May 2011 and was sentenced to nine months of probation.
A federal judge awarded Kipp $7,500 in damages in a civil lawsuit against Metz, of which Metz has paid $2,750, said James Wymard, Metz’s attorney.
Wymard asked U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer to consider Metz’s relationship with his son, Kipp’s crime and the potential that inmates would attack him because he worked as a guard and his father was a Pittsburgh police homicide detective in determining his sentence. Fischer scheduled Metz’s sentencing for Dec. 20.
“He’s not just a father to that little boy; he’s his hero,” said Linda Bradley, Metz’s aunt.
Family and friends told Fischer that Metz plays an important role in his son’s life because the boy’s mother is not around and both of Metz’s parents have died.
Metz took over the medical billing company that his mother owned.
The company’s seven employees depend on him for their jobs, said Susan Mayer, Metz’s aunt.
“If Arii wasn’t there ... I truly believe in three or four months the company would close,” Mayer said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Johnston posed few questions to witnesses testifying on behalf of Metz. She called Joel Nicholson, a former inmate in the Allegheny County Jail. Nicholson said Metz assaulted him inside his cell a few weeks before the incident with Kipp.
Nicholson said he did not file a complaint with jail staff or contact the police after he got out of jail on Sept. 28, 2010. It wasn’t until he saw news coverage of Kipp’s beating that he called the FBI to report his assault, he said.
Metz said he was not familiar with Nicholson.