District Court: Charges Reduced For Man Who Showed Up Drunk at AA Meeting

A Beaver Falls man charged with stealing a trumpet and showing up intoxicated to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting called the whole episode “an honest mistake.”

“I wasn’t trying to be harmful to anybody,” Richard Heffner said following his court appearance earlier this week before Robert Ford.

Local authorities apparently felt the same way. Sewickley agreed to reduce the charges against Heffner to summary offenses. Ford also ordered Heffner to pay a $50 fine and court fees.

Heffner's lawyer, Michael Yagercik of Ambridge, said the charges were reduced because Heffner completed the steps required by the court.

“He’s doing everything he can to make sure this will never happen again,” Yagercik said.

According to police, Heffner, 32, came to St. James School on Feb. 3 asking how to find the AA meeting. A janitor told Heffner and another man the meeting was not being held at St. James. The janitor told police he later saw Heffner walking away from the school carrying . An empty trumpet case was found open on the floor near the door where the men entered, police said.

Around the same time the janitor notified police, another call came in from  on Grant Street for a disturbance involving two men. They matched the description of the men at St. James, police said, and one of them had a trumpet.

Police apprehended and arrested Heffner in the church parking lot. A witness told police Heffner came into the AA meeting at the church, placed the trumpet on a piano and became disruptive. Police said Heffner was highly intoxicated.

The other man who was with Heffner left the area before police arrived. Witnesses told police that man caused no problems and tried to control Heffner. Witnesses said the second man also apologized to everyone at the AA meeting for Heffner’s behavior, police said.

Heffner told Sewickley Patch he made a mistake, is back to work and is in recovery, attending AA meetings regularly.

“I’m always going to be a recovering addict for the rest of my life,” Heffner said. “The only requirement to go to AA is the desire to stop using,” Heffner said.