The longtime pastor of a Presbyterian church in Ben Avon who was the subject of a KDKA-TV investigation into what the station called “reports of public and illegal sexual behavior” committed suicide yesterday.

The body of the Rev. Brent Dugan, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon, was found in a motel room in Mercer County, according to the Mercer County coroner’s office.

His death came a day after KDKA canceled plans to air its report, citing concerns that Mr. Dugan was “considering doing harm to himself.”

Mr. Dugan’s attorney, Ralph Karsh, confirmed his death last night but declined to say how or where the death occurred.

Mr. Dugan’s body was found around noon yesterday in a room of the Mercer Motel in Mercer, said Dr. David Hoyt, an examiner for the Mercer County coroner’s office.

Mr. Dugan died of an overdose of alcohol and aspirin and it was ruled that his death was a suicide.

Rev. Dugan’s picture and views have not been taken off the church website, his views have not been updated since 2002 and and it appears other church information hasn’t been updated since 2004. He had been minister of the church for 18 years.

Dugan went missing Wednesday, a suicide note was found Thursday morning…

“…Dugan wrote in the note about his “profound sorrow and sadness, and sense of solemn grief and embarrassment, about what he thought would come to be known about his personal life.”

The Post Gazette has an article on sweeps week gotcha journalism and a bit of background on reporter Marty Griffin who had been working on the piece for a month.

The Rev. Brent Dugan, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon, committed suicide last week after KDKA-TV aired a series of promotions for a Marty Griffin report that suggested Dugan was involved in illicit behavior.

Some viewers sent me understandably emotional e-mails that were as hyperbolic as the TV news promos they decry (one subject line: “KDKA’s Assassination of Ben Avon Pastor”). That goes too far. It was Dugan’s choice to overdose on aspirin and alcohol in a Mercer County motel. But this tragic outcome ought to make reporters and news directors in all newsrooms, particularly KDKA management and Griffin, take a contemplative look at the impact salacious, fear-mongering sweeps-month promos and reports can have.

TV news has an obligation to uncover wrongdoing, but too often stations appear to be more excited about reporting stories that bring themselves attention.