Megan Guza stories, Page 61
Pittsburgh police say woman was drunk, combative when trying to pick up kids from YMCA
A Pittsburgh woman walked into the Hill District YMCA on Monday with a Smirnoff Ice in her hand, requesting to pick up her children, who had been taken home on a bus, according to charges filed against the woman. Staff members at the Centre Avenue facility told police that Anastasia...
Prosecution, defense spar over police reports in Michael Rosfeld case
Common Pleas Judge Alexander Bicket chastised prosecutors in the homicide case against Michael Rosfeld on Tuesday for the length of time it took them to hand over certain evidence to defense attorneys. The hearing came one week before jury selection is scheduled to begin in Dauphin County. Rosfeld is charged...
Deliberations to continue Wednesday in sex assault trial of former Istanbul Sofra owner
Jurors deliberated for four hours in the sexual assault trial against Adnan Pehlivan before recessing for the evening without reaching a verdict. The jury of eight men and four women began deliberating about 12:30 p.m. and broke shortly before 5 p.m. They will reconvene at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Pehlivan, 47,...
Allegheny, Beaver sheriffs get K-9 funds from Ben Roethlisberger Foundation
The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office is among a number of law enforcement agencies receiving grants from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for police dog-related needs, the organization announced this week. The sheriff’s office and seven other departments in the region will receive a piece of the $70,000 grant, the last of...
Attorneys propose jury questions for Michael Rosfeld trial
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the homicide case against former East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld submitted 79 questions between them that they want potential jurors to answer during jury selection next week. Selection in the case is scheduled to begin March 12 in Dauphin County as the result of...
Former Istanbul Sofra restaurateur charged with sex assault takes stand
Closing arguments in the sexual assault case against a former Pittsburgh restaurant owner will begin Tuesday and jurors could start deliberating on the case by the afternoon. Adnan Pehlivan testified in his own defense Monday, admitting to the jury that he followed the alleged victim home from Kopy’s bar on...
Trial begins for man accused of killing family in Thanksgiving Day crash
Testimony began this week in the trial of man charged with killing a family of three Thanksgiving Day in 2016 as he tried to flee police near Route 30 in North Versailles. David Bianco, his fiancée, Kaylie Meininger and her young daughter Annika died when their Ford Taurus burst into...
Man convicted of raping teen now accused of pressuring her to recant
A man convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2014 faces new charges on allegations he pressured the victim last year while still in jail to recant her original statements, court records show. Christopher Vasquez, 28, was sentenced to at least seven years in prison in 2014. In May 2018,...
Text messages’ meaning debated in sex assault trial of Pittsburgh restaurateurVideo
The attorney for a former Pittsburgh restaurant owner charged with sexual assault had only one question after the jury watched surveillance footage Friday that prosecutors say shows the man slowly, but surely, following the alleged victim and her friends to their cars six blocks away. He wanted to know if...
Woman testifies in sexual assault trial against former Istanbul Sofra owner
The lawyer for a former Pittsburgh restaurant owner accused of sexual assault tried Thursday afternoon to undermine the testimony of the alleged victim while she recounted the terror of finding a stranger in her bed. Lee Rothman asked the woman if, once she went to her bedroom shortly after 1...
Ex-Istanbul Sofra owner accused of sexual assault is a predator, prosecutors argue
Prosecutors on Wednesday laid out their sexual assault case against former restaurant owner Adnan Pehlivan, calling him a restaurateur by day and sexual predator by night, while defense counsel set out to prove the case is a hook-up gone wrong. The jury of eight men and four women heard opening...
Bond revoked for men charged in $10M cocaine bust in North Braddock
A judge on Wednesday revoked bond for two men charged in an alleged large-scale cocaine trafficking operation, calling the men flight risks and a danger to the community. Jermaine Clark and Terry Suggs Jr. were arrested Monday in North Braddock, the culmination of a months-long investigation into the pair. The...
Pittsburgh Zoo officials keep close eye on lemur’s cancerVideo
Keepers and veterinary staff at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium are hoping for the best but preparing for any care necessary as they await results on a ringtail lemur’s cancer status. Caera, a 14-year-old ringtail lemur, showed no signs of distress in the fall, when one of her keepers...
3rd man in bar brawl with Pittsburgh cops files lawsuit, alleges violation of federal organized crime laws
A man involved in a brawl with undercover Pittsburgh police officers last year at a South Side bar has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, the four officers involved and the police union, essentially calling the police an organized crime enterprise. Attorney Wendy Williams filed the federal lawsuit Tuesday...
Sex assault trial begins Wednesday against former Pittsburgh restaurateur
Testimony is scheduled to begin Wednesday in the trial against a Pittsburgh restaurateur accused of breaking in to a woman’s South Side Slopes home and sexually assaulting her in her bed. Adnan Pehlivan, who owned Regent Square’s now-shuttered Istanbul Sofra restaurant, is accused of following the woman home from a...
Pittsburgh man charged in same prostitution sting as Patriots owner Robert Kraft
A Pittsburgh man is among those charged in a South Florida prostitution sting that has also snagged New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, court records show. Mark Curan Bope, 64, of Duquesne Heights, visited the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla., on Jan. 18, according to the police...
Hundreds of bricks fall from Perry South apartment building
The Red Cross is assisting families forced out of their Perry South apartments Monday by hundreds of falling bricks, authorities said. Authorities said the Wilson Street building, which houses six apartments, is structurally sound, but the possibility of more falling bricks poses safety concerns. Police, fire crews and paramedics responded...
Wife of man found dead after 2017 South Park standoff sued for townhouse damage
The wife of a South Park man who killed himself and set fire to his townhouse following an hours-long standoff with police in 2017 should be liable for the damage to the neighboring townhome, the property management company alleged in a lawsuit. Daniel Wang, 37, was found dead in his...
House guest accused of stabbing, strangling Braddock Hills woman
A Braddock Hills woman remained in critical condition Monday after she was stabbed in the neck earlier in the day, according to Allegheny County police. The incident happened about noon at an apartment in Brinton Towers on Locust Street, according to Sgt. Venerando Costa. Inside the apartment, police and EMS...
Butler woman suspected in Florida murder allegedly asked cellmate about hiding bodies
A Butler County woman missing for more than a decade who turned up in Florida as a homicide suspect last year might have been stalking a childhood friend in Pennsylvania via Facebook, according to a report from First Coast News. The details of Kimberly Kessler’s life include nearly 20 aliases...
Porn video mirroring alleged attack can’t be used at Istanbul Sofra owner’s trial, judge rules
A pornographic video found on the phone of man accused of stalking and sexually assaulting a Pittsburgh woman last year cannot be used in his trial next week, a judge ruled Tuesday. Adnan Pehlivan, who owned Regent Square’s now-shuttered Istanbul Sofra restaurant, is accused of following the woman home from...
Pittsburgh teen charged with kidnapping, robbery in January home invasion
Police have charged a Pittsburgh teen as an adult in connection with an alleged kidnapping and home invasion last month in the city’s Sheraden neighborhood, court records show. Ayah Stamps, 17, allegedly burst into a home on Merwyn Avenue around 11 p.m. Jan. 17 with another man, according to the...
Stained glass windows stolen from historic Braddock church
Police are investigating the theft of more than a dozen stained-glass window panes from a 126-year-old church in Braddock. A passerby noticed the theft Thursday morning at the former First United Presbyterian Church on Parker Avenue, according to a spokesman for the Mon-Valley Initiative. The church, built in 1893, shut...
California murder suspected arrested in Coraopolis
The suspect in a murder on the other side of the country fled to his father’s home in Coraopolis where he was arrested Thursday morning by sheriff’s deputies, authorities said. Police in Bakersfield filed charges against 19-year-old Isaiah Starns and four others in what was, at the time, an attempted...
Baby doll hung from Pittsburgh light pole prompts police investigation
A baby doll found hanging from a light pole in Pittsburgh’s Homewood section Thursday morning has prompted a police investigation and outcry from a local state representative. Pittsburgh police officers found a weather-beaten, African-American doll hanging from a light pole at the intersection of Bruston Avenue and Mohler Street, said...
