Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 68
Arnold man rejects, then accepts, plea deal for sexual assault of teen
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 gets probation for DUI
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...
Napping dad seeks dismissal of remaining endangerment charges
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...
Westmoreland Courthouse dome lit blue and yellow to show support for Ukraine
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...
Greensburg man guilty of recording teens in basement bathroom
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...
Hempfield man pleads guilty to raping girls, faces up to 12 years in prison
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...
Covid cases at Westmoreland jail slow amid county decline
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...
Greensburg man’s bid to bar sex video evidence rejected by judge
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...
Westmoreland coroner appoints new chief deputy
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...
Greensburg man ordered to prison for rape of unconscious woman
A Greensburg man convicted of raping an unconscious woman and for an attempted sexual assault of another person told a Westmoreland County judge on Monday he wanted to take responsibility for his actions even as he maintained his innocence. Levi L. Evans, 24, at a nonjury trial in September was...
Lawsuit claims Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau failed to protect New Ken 3-year-old killed in 2020
The maternal grandfather of a nearly 3-year-old New Kensington boy beaten to death in 2020 claims the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau failed to protect the child after it received allegations he was subjected to repeated incidents of physical and sexual abuse at the hands his mother and her live-in boyfriend....
Murrysville, North Huntingdon Republicans blast new congressional map; Democrats invigorated by changes
Republicans in Westmoreland County towns included in a redrawn congressional district based in Pittsburgh said they fear their communities will be excluded from key decision-making and have a reduced voice in national politics. Meanwhile, local Democrats said the move to align the county’s largest municipalities with traditional Democratic enclaves will...
Westmoreland’s western towns shifted to Pittsburgh-based Congressional district
Some Republican strongholds along the western edge of Westmoreland County will be part of a new Democratic-based Congressional district under a redistricting plan approved Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The county will continue to have two representatives in Congress. Irwin, Jeannette, Murrysville, North Huntingdon, Penn Township, Sewickley and part...
Jeannette woman’s conviction for false report to police overturned
A judge Tuesday overturned a guilty verdict issued against a Jeannette woman who prosecutors said made false reports to local police. Deborah Samulski, 62, served more than three months in jail after she was convicted last summer of two misdemeanor charges of filing false reports with a local gas company...
Hempfield man pleads guilty to lesser charges in connection with knife attack
Westmoreland County prosecutors this week dismissed assault and strangulation charges against a Hempfield man accused in the stabbing of a woman during an argument over rent. During guilty plea hearing for Franz Nute Wade Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Echard told Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger that “evidentiary issues”...
Westmoreland transit authority sees signs of rebound after years of pandemic-related declines
After months of declines in ridership during the coronavirus pandemic, Westmoreland County Transit Authority buses appear to have turned a corner. Transit officials said last week the agency’s fixed-route bus service, which operates 18 weekday and six Saturday routes throughout Westmoreland County and commuter service to Pittsburgh, has seen marginal...
Resignations leave Westmoreland coroner’s office short-staffed
Tim Carson, Westmoreland County’s new coroner, has lost 40% of his full-time staff as the office’s top lieutenant resigned and one of its longest- serving deputies retired. Chief Deputy Kirk Nolan and deputy John Ackerman, both holdovers from former Coroner Ken Bacha’s administration, are off the job, Carson said. The first-term...
Additional construction slated for Westmoreland Technology Park in Hempfield
A Pittsburgh-area developer said it will increase its presence in Westmoreland County with plans for an industrial building and warehouse on nearly 15 acres at an industrial park in Hempfield. Westmoreland commissioners, acting as the county’s Industrial Development Corp., approved a deal to sell the parcel at the Westmoreland Technology Park...
Westmoreland County pays $150K to settle inmate lawsuit over claims of guard attack
Westmoreland commissioners have approved a $150,000 settlement to end a federal lawsuit filed by a New Mexico man who claimed county jail guards brutally beat him two years ago. James Mapp, 34, sued the county after he claimed he was assaulted by guards at Westmoreland County Prison following his arrest...
Westmoreland commissioners hire help to create new human services department
Westmoreland commissioners on Thursday hired a consultant to forge a newly created office that consolidates all county human services programs into one department as the search for its permanent director continues. The effort to hire a full-time human services director has been ongoing since last summer after commissioners adopted findings...
Search for new Westmoreland elections director stalls
The Westmoreland County commissioners have indefinitely halted a search for a new election bureau director. The department has been without a top executive since the commissioners fired the former director last summer after she served 10 months on the job. Since June, it has been operated with two interim directors...
Municipal authority taps federal program to keep water flowing in Westmoreland homes
More than 100 Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County customers have received nearly $31,000 since the start of this year from a new federal program to help low-income residents pay delinquent water and sewer bills. The Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program was authorized last year and funded through two federal bills,...
Westmoreland jury finds father not guilty for napping while small children roamed
A former Greensburg man was found not guilty Tuesday of three felony offenses in which he was accused of being asleep as his young children walked alone on city streets. Jurors deliberated more than four hours before it acquitted Antonio Partlow, 33, now of New Kensington, of three counts of...
Mail-in ballot applications sent to voters as questions remain ahead of May primary
About 350,000 applications for mail-in ballots were sent to voters in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties over the past two weeks as local election officials prepare for a May primary election in the midst of uncertainty over the legality of the state’s voting laws and jurisdictions of congressional and state legislative...
Child endangerment trial begins for father accused of leaving kids alone on cold Greensburg street
A Westmoreland County jury will begin hearing evidence Tuesday in the case against a man charged with allowing his three young children to wander the streets of Greensburg alone on a cold Valentine’s Day two years ago. Prosecutors contend Antonio Partlow, 33, and his wife, of Charleroi, were asleep shortly...
