Appellate court upholds dismissal in case of long-missing Pa. woman

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a woman who ran away as a teenager and lived with a school security guard for a decade, agreeing with a lower court judge that the case was filed after the legal deadline.

Tanya Kach resurfaced in March 2006 after secretly living with Thomas Hose, whom she ran away with in February 1996 when she was 14 and he was 38.

Kach, now 27, said that the relationship changed soon after she moved into his bedroom at his parents’ McKeesport home and that she stayed only because he threatened her. Kach said she rarely left the house and was even forced to use a bucket for a toilet.

Hose, 51, is serving five to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual assault and other charges in 2007.

Kach sued Hose, the McKeesport School District, local police and Hose’s former employer claiming they failed to detect and prevent her inappropriate relationship with Hose or did not adequately investigate the relationship and her disappearance. She claimed her civil rights were violated.

In its ruling Wednesday, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said while the case was unusual, Kach had opportunities to come forward before she turned 18. The ruling upheld U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster’s dismissal of the suit in Sept. 2008. The courts found that the statute of limitations to sue had expired two years after Kach turned 18.