Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 24

A Westmoreland County judge on Monday rejected the appeal of a Youngwood man who sought to withdraw his guilty plea last year to third-degree murder. Michael James Covington Jr., 26, claimed he was coerced into accepting a deal that resulted in a 60-year prison sentence. He also argued that the...

Westmoreland County’s register of wills could face a potential jail sentence if found in contempt of court for violating two judicial orders that mandate improvements in the operations of her office. It’s a finding rarely made in Pennsylvania, especially against elected officials, according to legal expert Bruce Antkowiak. “This is...

A Jefferson County man was sentenced Friday to serve up to 20 years in prison for the sexual assault of a 6-year-old boy. Joshua Michael Irvine, 26, pleaded guilty to felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault for the molestation of a child in Vandergrift over...

A New Florence woman charged along with two men in connection with her mother’s homicide last year is competent to stand trial, a judge ruled. Police say Melissa Fox-Beacom, 50, enlisted two 18-year-old men, including her daughter’s boyfriend, to kill her mother on Dec. 11. According to police, 71-year-old Alice...

A former Westmoreland County Prison guard was ordered to serve time in the facility where he once worked. Brian Joseph Prinkey, 27, of Connellsville was sentenced Friday to serve 10 days to 23 months behind bars at the county lockup for his role in the assault of an inmate there...

A Saltsburg man was ordered to serve up to 40 years in prison for the sexual assault of one of two young children police say he kidnapped from a New Kensington home in 2021. Eddie Leroy Lambert Jr., 60, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of kidnapping minors, involuntary deviate...

Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials prayed for rain as drought conditions caused water levels to significantly fall off at the start of 2024 and triggered a mandatory water conservation order for customers. Prayers answered. Rains over the last three days have caused water levels at the Beaver Run Reservoir...

Westmoreland County Register of Wills employees described a courthouse office in disarray and neglected by its elected office holder, Republican Sherry Magretti Hamilton, during Wednesday’s resumption of a contempt of court hearing. During the daylong hearing, Rachael Lute, a clerk in the Register of Wills Office, said, between 2016 and...

An East Huntingdon man charged with the attempted murders of police officers was returned to jail Wednesday after a Westmoreland County judge said his continued freedom presented a danger to the community. James R. Miller Jr., 61, had been free for the last two weeks after he paid $500,000 bail...

A Seward man was ordered to serve two years on probation after for an indecent assault against a teenage girl. Westmoreland County prosecutors dropped four felony counts against Timmy Carl Betts, 38, including statutory sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse after the now 20-year-old accuser testified during a hearing...

Attempted homicide charges were dismissed Tuesday against an Allegheny County man who was charged with firing shots at three New Kensington police officers. J’Lamar J. Washington, 21, of Duquesne pleaded guilty to lesser counts of aggravated assault in connection with the Feb. 4, 2020, incident on Kenneth Avenue. Authorities said...

Westmoreland County commissioners have delayed board’s first evening public meeting in decades for one week. Commissioners earlier this year revamped the schedule for public meetings to include a voting session that was to be conducted at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the courthouse in Greensburg. Officials said a scheduling conflict...

Latreace Anna Jackson never suspected the trajectory of her son’s life would lead her to a Westmoreland County courtroom. “The weight of my son’s crime is enormous. At first, I was in disbelief when I found out it was him. I thought, why? It was not his character,” Jackson of...

A Tarentum man pleaded guilty Monday to charges that he stomped on a woman’s head during an assault last year at an Arnold home. Malachi Supreme Hayes, 26, was ordered to serve 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail but was immediately paroled after having served nearly a year in...

Voters can start using mail-in ballots next week, Westmoreland County election officials said. Pennsylvania primary is April 23, but mail-in ballots will be available at the courthouse starting Monday, March 25. Voters who already requested mail-in ballots could see them arrive in their mail boxes starting the following Monday, April...

A former New Florence man acquitted of murder in the 2015 shooting of a St. Clair police officer will be eligible for parole in just over two months under a new sentence imposed Friday. Ray A. Shetler Jr., 39, of Saltsburg, was given a 5-year sentence for violating probation, but...

A Hempfield man was ordered to serve up to 12 years in prison for the sexual assault of a teenage girl. Michael Flowers, 25, pleaded guilty Thursday to one felony count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse related a sexual encounter with a then 13-year-old girl in 2017. According to court...

Lawyers for Altoona-based Sheetz Inc. have asked a Westmoreland County judge to dismiss the company from a wrongful death lawsuit related to a 2022 fatal crash on Interstate 70 in South Huntingdon. The family of 25-year-old David Ott of Perryopolis filed a lawsuit months after he was killed in a...

Jeannette fire Chief Bill Frye said the city’s aging waterlines impacted firefighters’ ability to extinguish an overnight blaze that killed a father and his four young children in a Guy Street home. Both Frye and Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials confirmed Wednesday a 6-inch water line feeds into the...

A week after water use restrictions were lifted for customers served by Beaver Run Reservoir, a Canonsburg company was given a contract that allows it to buy 51 million gallons of water to use in fracking at nearby gas wells, Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials said Wednesday. The authority...

The Westmoreland County Housing Authority wants more power. Officials on Tuesday said a proposed solar farm built on property behind the authority-owned Hempfield Towers could benefit the low-income senior high-rise apartment building and nearby county facilities such as the jail, juvenile detention center and nursing home. “We’re looking for funding...

A whistleblower lawsuit filed by the former chief of staff for state Rep. Eric Davanzo can proceed, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court has ruled. A three-judge panel this month rejected an effort from the Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus to dismiss the lawsuit filed in 2022 by Marcel Nicole Ingram, who claimed she...

A Homewood man who was temporarily using a wheelchair following a confrontation with police in January can be released from jail if he posts a $100,000 bond, a judge ruled Monday. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears said Anthony Swann, 47, can pay 10% of the bond, $10,000, and...

The criminal case against a Mt. Pleasant Township man charged with the attempted homicide of his mother will continue even though she no longer wants to see her son jailed for the alleged attack, a Westmoreland County prosecutor said. Judge Scott Mears allowed Kort Noel Eckman, 46, and his mother,...

With Westmoreland County’s 250th birthday in the rearview mirror, local leaders are eyeing the United States’ semiquincentennial in 2026. Commissioners last week approved a plan to divert more than $1.3 million in local hotel revenue to fund tourism programs this year. But they also are looking ahead to celebrations planned...