Megan Guza stories, Page 55
Glassport man pleads guilty to shooting pit bulls
A Glassport man pleaded guilty Friday to taking his two pit bulls to the borough dump last year and shooting them, leaving one dead and one wounded. Quincy Cowans pleaded guilty to multiple counts of cruelty to animals. Common Pleas Judge David Cashman sentenced him to five years of probation....
Road closures for Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Arts Festival
The Three Rivers Arts Festival begins Friday along with week-long road closures throughout Downtown Pittsburgh. The festival runs through June 16, and it overlaps with Pittsburgh Pride on June 7 to 9. Closures related to Pride weekend can be found here. Three Rivers Arts Festival road closures • 10 a.m....
Police show off decals, warn of road closures for Pittsburgh Pride weekend
Pittsburgh police vehicles will again sport rainbow decals throughout June to show support for Pride Month, a month intended to celebrate the LGBT+ community. The decal is one in a series of decals put on vehicles over the course of the year that “symbolize our focus on inclusiveness, community police...
Pittsburgh man accused of threatening ex, killing her boyfriend
Matthew Lambert spent months harassing, stalking and threatening his ex-girlfriend, telling her it would be her fault when he killed her new boyfriend, police said. He allegedly installed a tracking device on her car. A day later, her boyfriend Tre Valorie was dead. A criminal complaint filed Wednesday against Lambert...
Man convicted in fatal North Versailles Thanksgiving crash gets up to 140 years in prison
Kaylie Meininger wasn’t really Taylor Price’s big sister, but that’s what she called her friend anyway. She called Meininger’s fiancé, David Bianco, her brother-in-law and referred to the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Annika, as her niece. Price said she last spoke to the young family via video chat the morning of...
Jury convicts East Hills mom in toddler’s death from ingesting fentanyl from sippy cup
A jury on Tuesday convicted a Pittsburgh mom of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 death of her toddler from an overdose of fentanyl in her sippy cup. Jurors deliberated for about a day Tuesday before finding Jhenea Pratt, 23, guilty. Pratt’s 17-month-old daughter, Charlette Napper-Talley, was pronounced dead April 5,...
Police: 2nd car involved in fatal Penn Hills hit and run
Investigators said Tuesday they believe a second car was involved in the April hit and run in Penn Hills that killed a man as he walked home from work. Prosecutors said in a bond hearing for suspect Surron Burch that they do not believe Burch drove the vehicle that dragged...
Federal felon pleads guilty to selling deadly drugs to Penn Hills man
A Penn Hills man already serving a prison sentence for federal firearms charges pleaded guilty Tuesday to state charges that he sold a fatal dose of fentanyl to another man in 2016. Dalton Douglas Duschl, 23, pleaded guilty to providing the drugs that led John Shipley to suffer a fatal...
Pittsburgh police find drugs, stolen gun after scuffle with suspect
A man spotted dealing drugs in Pittsburgh’s Homewood section fought with police and broke out a store window before officers arrested him Monday, authorities said. Zone 5 police said officers had been conducting surveillance on Frankstown Avenue around 11 a.m. in response to complaints from residents about drug dealing in...
Ex-gymnastics coach pleads guilty to Allegheny County sex assault charges
A former gymnastics coach who was granted two new sexual abuse trials last year pleaded guilty to his Allegheny County charges Monday, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Keith Callen, 48, pleaded guilty to aggravated indecent assault, sex assault by a sports official, unlawful contact and corruption of minors. Callen...
Officials identify man, teen killed in weekend shootings in Allegheny County
Officials on Monday identified a man and teenager killed over the weekend in separate shootings in Allegheny County. Ciquann Dudley Jr., 17, was found dead in an alley in McKeesport on Sunday afternoon, authorities said. His body was found in Tube Works Alley shortly before 2 p.m. by a passerby,...
Survivor begs judge to release child predator away from Pittsburgh
A tearful and at times angry Alicia Kozakiewicz stood feet from the man who abducted and raped her 17 years ago and begged a federal judge on Friday to keep the man from moving into her hometown. “Today I am both a 13-year-old victim and 31-year-old advocate,” Kozakiewicz told Judge...
1 injured after car plows into house in Spring Hill
Authorities believe health issues caused a man to drive into a house in Pittsburgh’s Spring Hill-City View neighborhood Friday morning,. The incident happened about 11:15 a.m. on Beckfield Street, said Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri. The car went off the road on Rhine Street, through a fence, down a hill,...
Rainbow-wrapped Port Authority bus shows off Pittsburgh Pride
A Port Authority bus will be wrapped in rainbow for the next week to promote the annual Pittsburgh Pride event scheduled for next weekend. The rainbow bus is a partnership between the Port Authority and the Delta Foundation in the lead-up to Pittsburgh Pride, set for June 7 – 9....
Manner of death remains mystery in missing Pittsburgh woman’s case
Blunt force trauma killed an East Liberty woman missing for six months, but investigators are unable to determine what caused that trauma, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Jessica Young, 35, disappeared Sept. 12, and her body was found almost exactly six months later in Larimer, according to...
Police ask for help finding woman connected to Hill District shooting
Pittsburgh police are asking for help identifying a woman they believe is connected to a shooting Monday in the city’s Hill District. The shooting happened just before 11 p.m. on Chauncey Drive, police said. Isaac Harrison, 34, was driven to a hospital by private means where he was pronounced dead...
Wanted fugitive, girlfriend arrested in West Mifflin
Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Pittsburgh woman wanted on three different warrants Thursday in West Mifflin, and suspected drugs in the house will lead to new charges against the fugitive and her girlfriend, authorities said. Shavon Hopkins, 28, of Oakland, was wanted by Bethel Park police on drug and other charges...
DA: Pittsburgh tow truck driver who shot rival acted in self-defense
Prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against a tow truck driver who shot and paralyzed a rival during a fight over territory earlier this year in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park. Fred Rabner, attorney for Jerald Robinson, said the District Attorney’s Office has indicated there will be no criminal charges filed against...
Attorneys for accused Tree of Life gunman accuse FBI of meddling in case
Defense attorneys for accused the Tree of Life gunman Robert Bowers have alleged the FBI is discouraging witnesses from speaking with the defense, according to court documents filed Wednesday in the case. The attorneys have asked the judge in the case to order the government and federal agents to “cease...
Sharpsburg man accused of racially motivated attack at T station
A Sharpsburg man is accused of throwing another man onto the tracks at the Wood Street T station over the weekend and telling the victim he’d kill him because he was white, according to charges filed this week. Two witnesses told police they saw a black man later identified as...
Trial begins for East Hills mom whose toddler ingested fentanyl
The trial continues Thursday for an East Hills woman who told police she had “no clue” how the deadly opioid fentanyl ended up in her toddler daughter’s sippy cup. Jhenea Pratt, 23, is charged with homicide in the April 5, 2018, death of 17-month-old Charlette Napper-Talley. Her trial started Wednesday...
Rabid raccoon reported in Swisshelm Park, 13th in Allegheny County this year
Another raccoon in Allegheny County has tested positive for rabies, county health officials said Wednesday. The raccoon was spotted along Windermere Drive in Pittsburgh’s Swisshelm Park neighborhood, according to the release from health department director Dr. Karen Hacker. It is the 13th rabid animal reported in the county so far...
Cash 5 ticket sold in Downtown Pittsburgh worth $200K
A Downtown Pittsburgh convenience store sold a Cash 5 lottery ticket worth $200,000 for Tuesday night’s drawing, according to lottery officials. The ticket, which matched all five numbers, was sold at Faber Coe & Gregg on Grant Street, according to the press release. The numbers were 1, 11, 22, 33,...
Police rescue 4 baby turkeys from Squirrel Hill storm drain
First ducklings, now poults. Pittsburgh police in Squirrel Hill pulled four baby turkeys – called poults, as officers apparently discovered – from a storm drain near Parkview Boulevard at Summerset Drive. Officer Alex Herstine climbed into the storm drain and handed the tiny turkeys up to Officer Jason Washington, who...
Clairton woman who Googled how to revive a baby pleads guilty to killing toddler
A Clairton woman who spent an hour Googling how to revive the toddler she strangled last year pleaded guilty to third-degree murder Tuesday in exchange for a maximum of 40 years in prison, according to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office. Deasha Ringgold, 21, was charged in August for the...
