Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 65

It took five days and $300 in parking tickets before Westmoreland County reached an agreement for Greensburg parking enforcement officers to stop citing inmate transport vans for parking in metered spaces outside the downtown courthouse. “They are adding up,” Sheriff James Albert said Tuesday about the tickets being incurred by...

A Clairton man convicted of running a major drug trafficking operation in Westmoreland County has been granted a one month hiatus from prison. Lindsey R. Wright, 42, who was sentenced late last week to serve up to 10 years in prison, will be released to house arrest before his newly...

A Penn Township woman told a Westmoreland County judge on Monday that the two-year minimum sentence for the man who sexually assaulted her while her young child was in another room in her home wasn’t long enough. “A two-year sentence for what he has done is not justice. My life...

A suspended mental health therapist wants seven separate juries to hear evidence from 10 former patients who claim they were victims of sexual assaults, harassed, groped or subjected to other inappropriate behavior during counseling sessions over the last decade. Gregory P. Miscik, 60, of Latrobe was first charged in November...

It had been a month since the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh’s East End collapsed, and the memory was fresh in the mind of Westmoreland County Public Works Director Greg McCloskey as he gathered his bosses around a conference table to meet with an engineer. It was at that Feb....

A jury on Friday awarded $19 million in damages to a Vandergrift man left paralyzed from an accident in a friend’s swimming pool, in what is believed to be the largest verdict ever issued in Westmoreland County. Jurors found that Washington Township homeowners Robert and Laura O’Black were negligent and...

A Westmoreland County jury will begin deliberations Friday to determine if a Washington Township couple is responsible for injuries that left their son’s best friend paralyzed after he broke his neck in 2013 in their backyard swimming pool. Lawyers for Michael Fraser, 29, of Vandergrift contend Robert and Laura O’Black...

A Delmont woman was charged amid allegations that she threatened to hang the Westmoreland County judge who is overseeing her ongoing custody dispute. Detectives said Jennifer Gesuale, 42, posted a YouTube video on March 7 in which she is alleged to have called for the murder of Westmoreland County Common...

The county job fair at Westmoreland Mall was a big success, officials said. More than 40 applications were received for 50-plus vacant jobs in county government, according to Sam Miller, associate director of the human resources department. “It seems to have been a successful event,” Miller said. The goal of...

Engineers in late January found deteriorating structural beams in a parking garage below the Westmoreland County Courthouse in downtown Greensburg. County officials said Tuesday that while urgency is needed to make repairs, there is no imminent threat of collapse. Core samples taken in October found evidence of deteriorating beams from...

Courthouse Square and the Main Street entrance to the Westmoreland County Courthouse will be closed for at least six months to repair structural issues on the lower two underground parking levels below the government complex in Greensburg. Commissioners on Tuesday are expected to award a $7 million emergency contract for...

Lawyers for a Vandergrift man who suffered a broken neck and spinal cord injuries in a swimming pool accident at a friend’s Washington Township home in 2013 on Monday asked a Westmoreland County jury to award him more than $9 million in damages. Jurors will spend the next week hearing...

Westmoreland officials believe there are more than 1,200 dilapidated buildings scattered throughout the county’s 65 municipalities and next month will kick start an effort to remove that blight. The county’s Redevelopment Authority will conduct a daylong “boot camp” April 22 at Westmoreland County Community College for local leaders to address...

The 85-year-old mother of a Unity man authorities have called a person of interest in the 2018 disappearance of Cassandra Gross pleaded guilty Friday in a conspiracy to swindle government benefits while her son was in jail on pending charges. Police said Almira Stanko, at her son’s direction, used his...

A Greensburg man convicted earlier for smuggling drugs into the Westmoreland County Prison pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony weapons offense and was ordered to serve up to 23 months behind bars. Jamel Miles, 34, was originally jailed March 3, 2021, after he was arrested by Greensburg police on charges...

A Westmoreland County judge said an example needed to be set to highlight the ongoing drug epidemic when he sentenced a former Export man to jail for selling fentanyl-laced heroin to a friend who died of an overdose. A jury in December acquitted Kelly Ryan Frank, 54, of drug delivery...

An Arnold man will serve up to three years in prison for the sexual assault of a girl in her mid-teens. Marcel Lynne Hayes, 31, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count as part of a plea bargain. Hayes initially rejected the deal but ultimately accepted after a Westmoreland County...

Former state senator Bob Regola was ordered Wednesday to serve one year on probation for a drunken driving arrest last October in Penn Township. Regola, 59, of North Huntingdon, was charged with two counts of driving while under the influence of alcohol and three traffic offenses after a traffic stop...

The lawyer for a former Greensburg man found not guilty last month of child endangerment charges, in connection with allegations he napped as his three young children walked alone on a city street, wants a judge to dismiss three remaining reckless endangerment counts. Defense attorney Michael Garofalo in court documents...

The golden dome atop the Westmoreland County Courthouse will continue to be lit in blue and yellow, a public showing of support for Ukraine. The new bicolor palette is designed to mirror the Ukrainian flag, said county Commissioner Sean Kertes. “Westmoreland County stands with the people of Ukraine as they...

A Greensburg man was convicted of criminal charges related allegations that he recorded pictures of teen girls in a bathroom with a smart phone. Following a nonjury trial this week, Carlos Alvarado, 49, was found guilty of one felony charge of attempting to record illicit images of a child and...

A Hempfield man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that he had sex with two young girls. Police said Kilian A. Thomas was 20 when he met the girls, ages 13 and 11, through social media in late 2019 and arranged multiple encounters in which they had sex in his...

Coronavirus cases at Westmoreland County Prison continue to decline. Warden Bryan Kline said Monday that just five inmates are currently infected with the virus, the lowest number of positive cases the Hempfield lockup has seen in several months. There were 542 inmates in the jail on Monday. “Our visitation and...

A Westmoreland County judge on Monday ruled a cellphone video showing a woman having sex with a boy was legally obtained by authorities. Charles Hunter, 35, of Greensburg is awaiting trial of multiple counts of rape of a child, possession of child pornography and related offenses in connection with the...

The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office has a new chief deputy. Newly elected Coroner Tim Carson announced Monday that he has tabbed Scottdale funeral director James Jacquillard as his second-in-command. Jacquillard, 50, has been a licensed funeral director for 28 years. He is a supervisor and funeral director at Graft-Jacquillard Funeral...