Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 59
Greensburg man claims sentence for child rape is too long
In an appeal filed this week, the lawyer for a Greensburg man ordered to serve what is likely to amount to a life prison term for the rape of a 5-year-old child claims the sentence is too long. Charles Jason Hunter was sentenced to serve 84 to 168 years in...
Unity man receives up to 45 years in prison for sexual assaults of 2 children
Steven M. Cope Jr. told a Westmoreland County judge this week that all he wanted was a chance to be a constructive member of society. The judge ruled that will have wait for at least 22½ years. Cope, 26, of Unity was sentenced to serve up to 45 years in...
Judge rules intent to harm supports murder count in Derry Township homicide
Westmoreland County prosecutors will be allowed to seek a first-degree murder conviction against a Unity man who, police say, shot into a Derry Township home and killed a woman as she slept. Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger, in a 20-page opinion issued Friday, rejected a defense request that claimed there...
Penn Township man charged in double homicide found competent to stand trial
A Westmoreland County judge has ruled a Penn Township man charged with the 2021 killings of his father and aunt is competent to stand trial. Police contend Neal M. Hubish, 42, killed his father, Arthur Hubish, 71, and aunt Maria Puskarich, 76, inside their Burrell Hill Road home Nov. 9....
Westmoreland parks upgrades targeted in amended tourism plan
A year since local tourism slowly rebounded after the coronavirus pandemic, the Westmoreland County commissioners are allocating an additional $128,000 for grants and upgrades at county parks. The commissioners failed to finalize a tourism plan last year but voted this month to reimburse the county for money paid to arts...
Westmoreland jury convicts Mt. Pleasant man of rape
A Mt. Pleasant man has been convicted of the rape and sexual assault of two girls. Westmoreland County jurors found Kenneth R. Daniels II, 42, guilty of 10 counts including felony charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault. Prosecutors dismissed one sex-related charge during the trial,...
McKeesport residents say MAWC water remains contaminated
Barbara Girgash pleaded Wednesday with Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members for help. Girgash, along with her McKeesport neighbor Pat Puko, said, a year after toxic chemicals infiltrated the city’s water system — runoff from foam used to extinguish a fire — testing indicates high levels of the dangerous...
Westmoreland DA to add information officer, fiscal coordinator/grant writer
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said three new jobs in her office will improve transparency and enhance the prosecutor’s efforts to secure additional public funding for services. The county’s salary board, which includes the three commissioners and Controller Jeffrey Balzer, signed off on Ziccarelli’s plan to create the new...
Mt. Pleasant man on trial for rape of child
Testimony started Tuesday in the trial of a Mt. Pleasant man charged with the rape of a teenager and sexual assault of another child. Westmoreland County prosecutors claim Kenneth R. Daniels II, 42, had improper sexual contact with two females from 2014 to 2017. Daniels was charged with 11 counts,...
Westmoreland County inks $20.9M contract for prison inmate medical care
Westmoreland County will pay nearly double for medical care of jail inmates under a new five-year contract approved by commissioners. The $20.9 million contract with PrimeCare Medical Inc. of Harrisburg will include increased services that focus on mental health treatment and support for inmates at the Hempfield lockup. Commissioners selected...
Judge rejects plea deals for Monessen men, citing insufficient prison time
A judge on Monday rejected guilty pleas for two Monessen men charged separately in unrelated cases involving allegations of illegal gun possession and assaults against police officers. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani told prosecutors that both men had lengthy criminal records involving similar offenses and the proposed...
Water outage begins Tuesday for MAWC customers in Murrysville, Penn Township, Jeannette
Water service will be disrupted for nearly 300 Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County customers on Tuesday as work crews replace two inoperable valves on a major transmission line from Murrysville to Jeannette. Work is expected to begin shortly after 3 a.m. on July 19 and take about 24 hours to...
Irwin man gets up to 20 years in prison for stabbing
An Irwin man was ordered Monday to serve up to 20 years in prison for stabbing a man following a bar fight. Joshua James Robison, 26, pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated assault and one count each of possession of an instrument of crime and simple assault in connection...
Games, crafts and sundaes highlight Family Fun Day Sundae event at Lynch Field
Quinn Ingram grasped a plastic ball and surveyed the table before her to find the perfect hat to wear. After she watched her father, Garrett, model a green dinosaur head covering, it was 2-year-old Quinn’s turn to don the headgear. The Ingrams, of Greensburg, were among the throngs of people...
Man shot in both legs in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood
Pittsburgh police launched an investigation late Saturday into the shooting of a man found on the 600 block Brighton Woods Road with gunshot wounds to both legs. Officers received a ShotSpotter alert just after 7:30 p.m. and when they arrived on scene applied two tourniquets to the victim’s legs until...
Quecreek miners, former governor kick off rescue reunion
Former Gov. Mark Schweiker waved the green flag to start the races Saturday night at Jennerstown Speedway Complex in Somerset County, but his duties also marked the start of the 20-year celebration of the rescue of the Quecreek miners. The dramatic rescue two decades ago of the nine miners trapped...
1 job, 2 departments: Westmoreland commissioners set to combine public works, election bureau leadership
Westmoreland officials on Thursday are expected to consolidate leadership of the county’s public works department and election bureau. Public Works Director Greg McCloskey has served in a dual capacity for the past year after he was named as interim director of the election bureau following the June 2021 firing of...
W.Va. man pleads guilty to 2019 drowning of East Huntingdon baby
For the second time in a year, a West Virginia man pleaded guilty in the drowning of an 11-month-old girl in East Huntingdon three years ago. Derrick Anthony Bass, 32, formerly of Uniontown, was ordered to serve up to 34 years in prison for the third-degree murder of the child,...
Unity man seeks dismissal of charges in Latrobe woman’s fatal overdose
The lawyer for a Unity man charged with selling drugs to a Latrobe woman who died from an overdose in 2019 asked a Westmoreland County judge to dismiss the case for lack of evidence. Defense attorney Tim Miller said prosecutors do not have enough evidence to support the charge of...
Blight removal, water/sewer projects, food bank set to receive Westmoreland covid funding
Westmoreland commissioners Tuesday said more than $25 million will be spent from the county’s American Rescue Plan funds to address community redevelopment and ease hunger. For more than a year, commissioners have promised a detailed plan to allocate the $105.4 million earmarked to the county from the American Rescue Plan...
Westmoreland County launches effort to promote human service programs
Human services will be in the spotlight on Thursday when Westmoreland County hosts an open house to promote more than 70 agencies and private vendors as officials ready a plan to consolidate government programs into one unified department. The three-hour event at Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood is slated...
Hotel tax revenue totals questioned as counties struggle to identify short-term rentals
Somerset County Treasurer Anthony DeLuca suspected that the hotel tax payments coming into his office were a little sparse. So DeLuca, a retired police detective in his first year of elected office, took it upon himself to investigate how many short-term rentals were on the market in Somerset County, and...
Derry rape suspect found in Mexico
A former Derry man who was charged in 2013 with the rape of a child has been found in Mexico and will be returned to Westmoreland County to stand trial, said District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli Ziccarelli announced Friday that U.S. located Efrain Fernandez-Nicolas nearly eight years after he was originally...
Homicide victim’s mother tells Mt. Pleasant man: ‘No more drugs’
Cathy Clawson had a simple message for the man who pleaded guilty Friday to causing her daughter’s death in 2020. “Just come out a better man. No more drugs,” Clawson told Robert Seth Barnhart after he was sentenced to serve 3-6 years in prison for his role in the crash...
Westmoreland commissioners say deal reached for covid relief spending
An agreement on how to spend a portion of the $105.3 million in federal funds Westmoreland County was allocated as part of the government’s covid-relief efforts will remain under wraps for the next two weeks, commissioners said Thursday. More than $52 million was banked last year from the American Rescue...
