Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 76
New Kensington man pleads guilty to sale of fatal drugs in 2017 overdose
A New Kensington man was ordered to serve at least five years in prison in connection with the sale of drugs used in a fatal overdose in 2017. Martez D. “Chico” Whitlow, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of drug delivery resulting in death and an additional drug-related count...
Greene County man to serve probation, house arrest for assault, drugging of 2-year-old
The lawyer for a Greene County man who pleaded guilty to a brutal assault of a 2-year-old Derry boy in 2016 told a judge on Friday his client was the most “damaged” person he’s ever represented. Defense attorney Gary Gerson said Cory Andrew Kuntz, 28, was a victim of sexual...
Westmoreland officials seek public input for spending $105 million in covid relief funds
Westmoreland County spent just more than 1% of the $105 million it expects to receive in relief funds from the American Rescue Plan and wants the public’s ideas for how the bulk of the remaining cash should be used. Commissioners posted a bare-bones survey on the county’s web page that...
Judges orders jail sentence for New Kensington man in girlfriend’s death
Andrew Brown told a judge on Thursday he hadn’t spoken to his mother for more than a year before she was killed by her boyfriend during an altercation four years ago in a Lower Burrell parking lot. “I still loved her, and now I will never have another chance to...
Westmoreland officials seek public input for spending $105 million in covid relief funds
Westmoreland County spent just more than 1% of the $105 million it expects to receive in relief funds from the American Rescue Plan and wants the public’s ideas for how the bulk of the remaining cash should be used. Commissioners posted a bare-bones survey on the county’s web page that...
Jeannette man seeks to withdraw rape plea 7 years later
A former Jeannette man serving decades behind bars for three different crimes wants to withdraw a guilty plea he entered more than seven years ago to charges that he raped a woman and held her captive for a week. Derrick Cobbs, 45, now claims the plea he entered was not...
Demolition begins in downtown GreensburgVideo
With the push and pull of a 25-foot claw attached to heavy equipment stationed on South Pennsylvania Avenue in Greensburg, workers started the laborious task of bringing down a dilapidated former restaurant building Sunday morning. The three-story building that once housed the former Derby’s Delicatessen but has been vacant for...
Westmoreland pension fund at all-time high with $675 million banked
Stock market advances and a cash infusion pushed Westmoreland County’s pension fund to a record level, with more than $675 million socked away to pay benefits for the county’s 1,400 retirees. Proceeds from a $126 million bond purchase this summer hit the pension fund in August, a move county officials said...
The muddier the better: Runners and the adventurous slog up and down Seven Springs mountain just for funVideo
Miranda Veliky was caked in mud Saturday morning, and she didn’t care a bit. Veliky, 23, of New Stanton was one of about 1,000 athletes who jumped, swam, climbed and toppled through mud and water and along the wooded trails that traversed up, over and down the Laurel Mountains during...
Man charged in Beechview shooting, victim identified
Police charged a Pittsburgh man with criminal homicide and aggravated assault in connection with a shooting late Friday night in Beechview. Darrell Mutzig, 37, was identified by police as the man arrested and charged with the fatal shooting just after 11 p.m. at Methyl Street at Hampshire Avenue where a...
Lower Burrell man sentenced to at least 2½ years in prison for guns theft from city home
A Lower Burrell man has been sentenced to serve at least 2½ years in prison for the thefts of guns from a city home. Jordan Bradley Keibler, 27, pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple theft counts and other offenses in connection with incidents Lower Burrell police said occurred in June. According...
Westmoreland County makes changes to comply with Open Meeting Law
Westmoreland County commissioners are becoming an open book, so to speak. An expansion of the state’s Open Meeting Law, which went into effect Aug. 29, means an agenda detailing items up for debate or vote by the commissioners must be available to the public at least one day in advance....
North Huntingdon man sentenced for attack on police
A North Huntingdon man pleaded guilty this week to assaulting three police officers who responded to his home for a welfare check. According to court records, Kevin Michael Shouse stood at the top of a staircase at his Center Highway home, brandished a machete and later injured the officers during...
Judge affirms guilty verdict in case of attempted rape of Saint Vincent coed
A judge this week rejected the appeal of a Latrobe man who was convicted this year of the 2017 attempted rape of a Saint Vincent College student. In a nine-page opinion, Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio affirmed the jury’s guilty verdict against Luke Hoover and, in doing so, denied the...
Plea deal reached in East Huntingdon baby’s 2019 drowning death
A Fayette County man will serve up to 40 years in prison for the death of an 11-month-old girl who drowned in an East Huntingdon home while in his care, prosecutors said. Derrick A. Bass, 31, formerly of Uniontown, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a lesser count of third-degree murder of...
Covid cases slow at Westmoreland jail
A recent surge of coronavirus cases among inmates at Westmoreland County Prison has slowed, officials said Monday. Warden Bryan Kline said just 13 active cases of the virus remained at the Hempfield lockup, less than a week after the facility saw as many as 29 inmates with new infections. “It’s...
Youngwood man ordered to serve 6-year prison sentence for 2-month crime spree
A Youngwood man was ordered to serve up to six years in prison Monday for a series of eight thefts police said occurred over a two-month period in 2019. Police said Michael A. Krautz IV, 36, conducted a one-man crime spree in Westmoreland, Fayette and Indiana counties, stealing items from...
‘You don’t get it’: Judge gives Jeannette BB gun shooter prison term
Just three weeks after a jury found Darnell Dennison not guilty of the most serious offenses he faced in connection with a shooting incident that left a Jeannette teen without an eye, he was charged in another shooting, this time suffering an injury himself. “After the jury trial, I was...
Trustee objects to implementation of mask mandate at WCCC
Westmoreland County Community College Board of Trustees member Doug Weimer said he isn’t personally opposed to masks, but on Friday he questioned a mandate issued by the school’s president to require all students, faculty and others to wear face coverings inside the institution’s buildings. “I feel we jumped the gun...
Westmoreland commissioners continue search for election bureau director
Westmoreland commissioners said they plan to have a new election bureau director in place before voters go to the polls in just over two months. The bureau’s top job been vacant since mid June, when commissioners fired director JoAnn Sebastiani after 10 months in the position, during which she oversaw...
Ex-Ligonier Township man admits setting fire to his own home
Robert Forgie acknowledged he endangered himself, police and firefighters two years ago when he set his new Ligonier Township home ablaze. “I’m sorry for what happened. I know I caused a lot of trouble,” said Forgie, 69, just after he pleaded guilty on Thursday to a lesser charge of risking...
Ex-Greensburg man pleads guilty to possession of sexually graphic pictures, videos of teen girl
A former Greensburg man will serve up to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges he possessed sexually graphic pictures and videos of a teenage girl. The prosecution dismissed 57 charges, including three counts each of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of an unconscious victim, against...
Sutersville robbery/shooting suspect pleads guilty, agrees to cooperate with potential murder investigation
An Allegheny County man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in connection with the shooting of two men during a 2018 drug robbery in Sutersville. Curtis Thomas Everett, 28, of Glassport, was sentenced to serve 3 to 10 years in prison and cooperate with an ongoing investigation into the disappearance and...
Quarantined commissioners say no to Westmoreland courthouse mask mandate
Westmoreland County commissioners, in quarantine this week after exposure to an office staffer who tested positive for coronavirus, said Thursday they will not require masks be worn at the courthouse. Face coverings have been optional for workers and visitors to the courthouse in downtown Greensburg since Gov. Tom Wolf lifted...
Hempfield man pleads guilty in prison cell vandalism, escape attempt charge dismissed
A Hempfield man was ordered to serve up to 18 months in prison for an incident earlier this year in which police said he tried to escape from the county’s lockup. Jule Aaron Mascherma, 33, pleaded guilty to a charge of institutional vandalism after Westmoreland County prosecutors agreed to dismiss...
