Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 111

A Bolivar man will serve up to 20 years behind bars for the sexual assault of a young girl. Bradley Grant Sarver, 47, was sentenced Tuesday to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison for an assault prosecutors said took place Christmas Day 2013. A 12-year-old...

Pennsylvania’s Superior Court is taking its show on the road. A three-judge panel of the appeals court will hear more than 40 cases at the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Superior Court normally hears arguments on appeals in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but periodically visits...

In 2011, political newcomer Jeffrey Balzer campaigned for Westmoreland County controller with one message — the two-term incumbent had been in office too long. Now, eight years later Balzer, 54, a Republican from New Alexandria, is seeking his third term and said his experience in running the office that serves...

The Westmoreland County Transit Authority is expected to decide by month’s end if it will take over its own fixed-route bus and paratransit services. The transit agency this week received proposals from two companies to run both services starting in January, but officials said the high cost of those offers...

A Westmoreland County judge ruled Thursday that the father of accused cop killer Rahmael Sal Holt will remain in jail on $100,000 bond until after his son’s capital murder trial next month. Gregory Baucum Jr., 48, of Pittsburgh has been in jail since March after he was arrested and charged...

Westmoreland County’s Prothonotary Office will process passports at next week’s Health and Wellness Expo in Hempfield. The event, which will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Ramada by Wyndham Greensburg Hotel and Conference Center, will feature information booths detailing programs and services for seniors, persons...

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Wednesday overturned a ruling issued earlier this year that barred key evidence in a pending rape case against a Hempfield man. In January, Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger ruled prosecutors could use statements the alleged victim gave to Greensburg authorities after she...

Westmoreland County prosecutors said Wednesday they have evidence that the man accused of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw was an armed drug dealer who sought to avoid arrest when he fired the fatal shots. According to court documents presented during a pretrial hearing in preparation for the capital...

The lawyer for a Penn Hills man awaiting trial on charges that he sold drugs used in last year’s fatal overdose of a Lower Burrell man contends a police search of her client’s cellphone was illegal. Christopher Napper, 25, is charged with drug delivery resulting in death, drug possession counts...

The appeal of a Johnstown man convicted earlier last year of second-degree murder for his role in a botched robbery in front of his friend’s home in Latrobe has been rejected. A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court denied the appeal filed by Austin Krinock, who contended he received...

A New Stanton teenager will plead guilty but mentally ill to two counts of first-degree murder for the November 2016 shooting deaths of his mother and younger brother. The attorney for 17-year-old Jacob Remaley told a Westmoreland County judge Tuesday the teen will accept the plea bargain deal after his...

Lawyers for Westmoreland County went to court Friday to ask a judge to order a fired sheriff’s department administrator to return confidential records claimed to have been taken from the courthouse. The county contends former Chief Deputy Patricia Fritz absconded with personnel records potentially related to complaints lodged against other...

Westmoreland County Controller Jeffrey Balzer on Friday said a decision by county commissioners to rehire a private insurance company was a “sham.” Commissioners this week unanimously voted to approve a one-year, $1.09 million contract to the Housing and Redevelopment Insurance Exchange to oversee and pay out large workers’ compensation claims....

A 39-year-old Jeannette woman was convicted Thursday of third-degree murder for the violent beating death more than three years ago of her 19-year-old boyfriend. Jurors in Westmoreland County deliberated more than three hours before finding that Crystal Belle was guilty of a lesser charge. Prosecutors asked for a first-degree murder...

A Westmoreland County judge on Tuesday rejected the appeal of a Latrobe man serving a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of a friend during a botched robbery. Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio in a 39-page opinion found there was sufficient evidence to support the third-degree murder conviction against...

A North Huntingdon man was found not guilty Tuesday of charges he tried to strangle his 13-year-old daughter during a confrontation last year at his former home in Latrobe. After two hours of deliberations, a Westmoreland County jury found Samuel Farrier, 46, guilty of one lesser, misdemeanor count of simple...

Khalil Parker sustained more than 100 different injuries that caused him to bleed to death, a Westmoreland County jury was told Tuesday. Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht testified in the fourth day of the first-degree murder trial of Crystal Belle, 39, that Parker, found dead June 11, 2016, in Belle’s...

An Arnold man pleaded guilty Monday in Westmore­land County Court to drug and gun charges resulting from an arrest two years ago. Police said that on Sept. 8, 2017, while attempting to arrest Travis James Lasko Jr. on a parole revocation warrant, they found drugs, cash and an unlicensed firearm...

A Connellsville man will serve up to six years in prison for the burglary of the Caddy Shack Family Fun Center more than three years ago in Donegal. Brian Reed Mansberry, 44, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of burglary and conspiracy for the Sept. 16, 2016, heist in which police...

Two teen daughters of a North Huntingdon man told a Westmoreland County jury Monday their father physically assaulted them as he stormed into a violent rage at their mother’s Latrobe home last year. Samuel Farrier, 46, is on trial on a felony charge of strangulation and misdemeanor counts of simple...