Magistrate Judge KEITH A. PESTO was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 20, 1960. He graduated from Johns Hopkins Universityin May, 1980 with a B.A. in economics and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in May, 1983.

After private practice in Philadelphia in 1984, he clerked for Judge D. Brooks Smith, then of the Court of Common Pleas of Blair County, in 1985 and 1986. He practiced privately again in 1986 and was a member of the District Attorney's Office in Blair County from 1986 through 1988. He again clerked for Judge D. Brooks Smith of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1988 to 1994.

 He was appointed magistrate judge on March 1, 1994.