Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 58

Human services will be in the spotlight on Thursday when Westmoreland County hosts an open house to promote more than 70 agencies and private vendors as officials ready a plan to consolidate government programs into one unified department. The three-hour event at Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood is slated...

Somerset County Treasurer Anthony DeLuca suspected that the hotel tax payments coming into his office were a little sparse. So DeLuca, a retired police detective in his first year of elected office, took it upon himself to investigate how many short-term rentals were on the market in Somerset County, and...

A former Derry man who was charged in 2013 with the rape of a child has been found in Mexico and will be returned to Westmoreland County to stand trial, said District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli Ziccarelli announced Friday that U.S. located Efrain Fernandez-Nicolas nearly eight years after he was originally...

Cathy Clawson had a simple message for the man who pleaded guilty Friday to causing her daughter’s death in 2020. “Just come out a better man. No more drugs,” Clawson told Robert Seth Barnhart after he was sentenced to serve 3-6 years in prison for his role in the crash...

An agreement on how to spend a portion of the $105.3 million in federal funds Westmoreland County was allocated as part of the government’s covid-relief efforts will remain under wraps for the next two weeks, commissioners said Thursday. More than $52 million was banked last year from the American Rescue...

A Hempfield man was ordered Thursday to serve 10 to 20 years in prison for the rape of a child. Ted Donald Brown III, 42, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of rape in connection with sexual assaults police said took place over a six-year period that started in 2015....

A Jeannette man was released from jail this week after he was sentenced to serve up to 23 months behind bars for an incident that resulted in a 11-hour police standoff in April. Jesse McCurdy, 49, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of risking a catastrophe and illegal possession of...

Westmoreland County commissioners this week approved a $238,700 extension of a multimillion-dollar contract with a private medical provider to continue work at the county jail while officials negotiate a new long-term deal. Commissioners said they expect to have a new deal in place before the end of next month. “We’re...

A North Huntingdon man faces up to 50 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the rape of a child. John Wilbanks, 41, pleaded guilty this week to 48 charges in two cases in connection with events police said occurred over a six-year-period that started in 2013 with a...

A Virginia Beach man told a Westmoreland County judge he believed he was a time traveler who was in desperate need to save his son from a corrupt government when he stole a car in a Hempfield shopping plaza and later led police on a high-speed 40-mile chase on the...

Kira, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, has been on the job at the Westmoreland County Prison since she was a puppy. On Monday, the county’s prison board took the drug-detecting dog out of service after her handler said she is struggling with anxiety issues related to the electronics at the jail...

Michelle McFall knows just how difficult a job she has. McFall, 53, of Murrysville was elected to lead the Westmoreland County Democratic Committee, an organization that in recent years has seen its influence in local politics erode as voter registration numbers plunge and ballot box losses mount. “We’re now the...

Funeral services next month for 15 veterans whose remains sat unclaimed at the Westmore­land County Coroner’s Office will be relocated to Hempfield Park to accommodate a larger-than-­expected crowd. Officials said there has been an “overwhelming response” from the community to attend the ceremony. Coroner Tim Carson said Friday he expects...

Jeffrey Mark Fondrk told a jury Thursday that as his wife lay unconscious on the floor of their Hyde Park home, he extracted a gate from under her body and stepped over her to pour a glass of Pepsi and did so again to sit on a sofa and watch...

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family members of a local attorney who was found dead in the sauna last year at the Greensburg YMCA has been settled. According to court records, a Westmoreland County judge on June 7 approved the agreement to end the litigation that claimed the...

After weeks of delay caused by the litigation over the results of the May primary, Westmoreland County Democrats once again are set to elect a new party chairperson. Democrats are scheduled to convene tonight at Hempfield Park for their reorganization meeting to select a replacement for committee chairwoman Tara Yokopenic,...

Head wounds and multiple bruises on the body of Patricia Fondrk after her death were not caused by an accidental fall, forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht testified Wednesday in the murder trial of her husband, Jeffrey Mark Fondrk. The prosecution rested its case against the 59-year-old Hyde Park man, who...

Chaos is the word that 24-year-old Jeffrey Dakota Fondrk used to describe his upbringing. He told a Westmoreland County jury Tuesday how he would wear headphones and seclude himself in his bedroom and play video games while his parents abused alcohol and fought and argued nearly every day. “I tried...

A Blairsville man will serve 18 months on house arrest as part of a probation sentence imposed Monday after he pleaded guilty to providing his cousin the fentanyl used in her 2017 overdose death. Shawn Ray Jodon, 32, pleaded guilty to a charge of drug delivery resulting in death and...

A Connellsville woman was ordered to serve seven years on probation for her role in the 2019 overdose death of a woman in Greensburg. Marcia Lynn Shearer, 61, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy as Westmoreland County prosecutors dismissed a more serious charge of drug delivery resulting in...

In the five years since Daishawn Stikkel and Nathan Childs were released from Westmoreland County Prison, their lives have significantly changed. Both men were charged with attempted homicide in connection with a shooting in March 2016 in Greensburg and had been behind bars for about five months before they posted...

Shawden L. Ross told a Westmoreland County judge Friday he understood the pain his victim’s family members experienced as he endured the same kind of loss. Ross, 36, of Pittsburgh was ordered to serve 20 to 40 years in prison for the third-degree murder of 27-year-old Lamont Simmons on April...

Westmoreland County’s election board on Friday approved a final certification of the May primary for seats on the local Republican and Democratic committees. Results from those races had been delayed as county election officials counted thousands of write-in votes cast this spring. Election officials earlier this week broke ties in...

The Jeannette Industrial Park is sold out. The Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. this week approved a 5-year deal to lease a more than 50,000 square-foot space in the park to Scott Electric. “Obviously, we’re very excited to bring Jeannette Industrial Park to full occupancy,” said Westmoreland County Commissioner Sean...

The former Greensburg woman who was the first person convicted in the 2010 torture murder of a mentally disabled woman contends a Westmoreland County judge abused her discretion late last month when she imposed a prison sentence of 60 years to life. In an appeal filed Friday, Angela Marinucci, 29,...