Man charged with choking woman at Mt. Pleasant Township home, burning her face with cigarette

A Herminie man is behind bars after state police accused him of using a cigarette to burn a woman’s face and later breaking into her home and choking her, according to court papers.

Titus Isaiah Wright, 28, is charged with strangulation, burglary, criminal trespass and related offenses.

Troopers were called to Kors Studio Road in Mt. Pleasant Township just before 6 p.m. Tuesday after a woman reported Wright was trying to break into a home. The woman told police about two other incidents involving the suspect that occurred earlier in the day, according to court papers.

Authorities said the woman and Wright were arguing at 3:30 a.m. and, while she drove him to a homeless shelter, he used a lit cigarette to burn her chin and slapped her in the face, according to court papers.

He got out of her vehicle and fled into a wooded area, police said. The woman told authorities that she went home to sleep and woke to Wright with his hands around her neck around 5:30 a.m., according to court papers.

After he left, the woman said she locked her doors and windows but he managed to break in just before 6 p.m., damaging a screen door, window and glass television stand, according to police. She said Wright appeared to be under the influence of drugs during the morning incidents and he hadn’t slept in several days.

Police said she had a visible mark on her chin and injury to her eyelid.

Wright was arraigned Tuesday night and was being held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $50,000 bond. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records. An Aug. 16 preliminary hearing is set.