Police: Woman hired boys to shovel snow, tried to get them drunk and sexually assault one | Law Enforcement Today

PITTSBURGH, PA - A woman who lives in Pittsburgh has been accused of getting two boys drunk and trying to sexually assault one of them after they came to her house asking to shovel her walkway for cash.

According to CBS News, the criminal complaint states that police were called to Windgap Avenue on Wednesday, January 15th, around 9:00 p.m. for a reported burglary in progress. However, when they responded to the scene, police said they found two boys who looked to be 12 and 13 highly intoxicated. 

In the criminal complaint, police wrote, "The juveniles were speaking in a nonsensical way exclaiming that a lady had just got them drunk and touched them." Police said they tried to make contact with the caller, later identified as 64-year-old Rochelle Stewart, but when she finally did answer her door, she made no mention of a burglary and wouldn't answer the questions asked by police.

Police then said they separated the kids to ask them what happened. Court documents show that both kids told a similar version of the story. They told police they were walking along Windgap Avenue asking people to shovel their walkways for money and Stewart let them shovel hers for $5. While they were shoveling, the boys told police that Stewart invited them inside for hot chocolate and then offered them alcohol, which they drank.

One of the boys told police once he was drunk, Stewart sat down next to him, put her leg over his and tried to touch him inappropriately. The boys told officers that after that, they decided to leave, but had to go back after realizing that one of them had forgotten his coat. That's when police said they showed up.

Steward denied letting the boys in, but police said they found the victim's coat on her couch and a half-gallon of vodka that was half empty. One of the boys also took a video of Stewart sitting with the other boy and rubbing his arm and shoulder, as noted by police in the criminal complaint. Stewart was transported to the Allegheny County Jail. She has been charged with giving minors alcohol, corruption of minors, indecent assault, and false reports to law enforcement. Police took the boys home after contacting their mothers. 

In a separate incident, a Minnesota woman who pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct back in fall of 2024 has been sentenced to five years of probation. According to CBS News, the woman, identified as Allison Schardin, also received a stayed eight-month jail sentence, which she will not have to serve as long as she abides by the terms of her probation.

Other terms of her probation include 200 hours of community service, no contact with the victims, no unsupervised contact with any boys, mandatory mental health treatment, and registration as a predatory offender for 10 years. The court also ordered her to serve two more weekends in jail. 

Schardin initially pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal sexual conduct, but amended her plea as part of a deal that dismissed the lesser count. The criminal complaint states that she sexually assaulted two teenage hockey players from Colorado at a Roseville hotel in January 2024.