Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 7
School district to turn over student records in criminal cases against special ed teacher, aides
The Greensburg Salem School District was ordered Monday to turn over sensitive student records to prosecutors and a defense attorney in the case of alleged mistreatment of three children in a special education classroom. Teacher Brooke Stanko, classroom aide Teri Kepchia and four other employees are awaiting trial on allegations...
Westmoreland’s covid cash could ease financial crunch as state budget impasse persists
Westmoreland County may tap federal coronavirus pandemic grant funds to cover impending budgetary shortfalls. The county still holds less than a third of the $105.4 million in federal grants that it received. Finance Director Meghan McCandless said even though all of the funds received through the American Rescue Plan program...
Westmoreland County announces plan to renovate former Jeannette glass site
Westmoreland County development officials will spend $1.6 million to renovate the last remaining vacant space in the Jeannette Industrial Park. A former centerpiece of Jeannette’s glass making past, the more than 211,000-square-foot property has served as one of 19 industrial parks in the county since the mid 1990s. It is...
New Kensington man’s murder retrial ends after 2nd jury unable to reach a verdict
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli on Thursday said her office will seek a third trial for a New Kensington man charged in connection with the 2020 fatal shooting of an Arnold drug dealer. After 10 hours of deliberations over two days, jurors failed to reach a verdict for charges...
Jury deliberations to continue in New Kensington murder trial
A Westmoreland County jury will resume deliberations Thursday morning in the retrial of a New Kensington man charged with the murder and robbery of an Arnold drug dealer. Jurors heard three days of testimony and deliberated nearly six hours Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the case against Letresse Williams....
Witnesses link New Kensington man to 2020 murder of Arnold drug dealer
A New Kensington woman testified Tuesday that her former boyfriend confessed to his role in a fatal shooting of an Arnold drug dealer nearly five years ago. Shawnti Lee told a Westmoreland County jury that Letresse Williams made a frantic call to her in the late afternoon of Jan. 15,...
Retrial begins in 2020 New Kensington fatal shooting
For the second time in 14 months, Westmoreland County prosecutors will attempt to convince a jury that Letresse Williams killed a suspected drug dealer during a botched robbery attempt. Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli said the Jan. 15, 2020, fatal shooting of Anthone Williams warrants a second-degree murder conviction. (Letresse...
Former Greensburg police chief pleads guilty to evidence tampering charges
Former Greensburg police chief Shawn Denning pleaded guilty Monday in Westmoreland County court to three misdemeanor counts of tampering with evidence. Denning, 44, of Delmont was sentenced to serve three concurrent one-year probation terms, which will run alongside the 15-month federal prison sentence he is serving after pleading guilty this...
Ex-Greensburg police chief set for Monday court appearance in county theft case
Former Greensburg police chief Shawn Denning is back in Westmoreland County. Denning, 44, of Delmont was transferred this week to the county jail to await a court appearance Monday, when he is expected to consider a possible guilty plea to misdemeanor charges in connection with allegations that he stole evidence...
Bedbug outbreak disrupts tenants at Jeannette high rise
Kristina Trent said Friday her father hasn’t been able to be at home much over the last two weeks amid another outbreak of bedbugs at a Jeannette high-rise apartment building. “My dad has to stay with me. He can’t go home to a house where he is still paying rent,”...
Westmoreland commissioners OK updated land development ordinance
Fees for Westmoreland planners to review development proposals will increase after commissioners approved a revision of the county’s decade-old subdivision ordinance. Commissioners signed off on the updated guidelines that officials said could spur future growth and development. Fees paid by developers and property owners for the county to review plans...
Westmoreland County OKs drug lawsuit settlement
Westmoreland County has signed on to the settlement of a federal lawsuit with the makers of Oxycontin. The $7 billion overall resolution to the litigation filed against Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, was approved earlier this year. It is expected to result in $200 million earmarked for...
Deputy director hired for Westmoreland election bureau
For the first time in five years, Westmoreland County has a deputy director of the election bureau. The county commissioners on Thursday announced the hiring of Hannah Lindley, 31, of Bentleyville, Washington County, to serve as second in command of the office that oversees elections in Westmoreland County. Lindley served...
Rabbi enlisted to assess faith of Westmoreland jail inmate
A Pittsburgh rabbi was brought in to assess claims that a county jail inmate’s religious convictions qualify him to receive kosher meals while incarcerated, the Westmoreland County commissioners said. The lawyer for Kort Noel Eckman, who is awaiting trial in the attempted murder of his mother, said jail officials have...
DA says New Kensington murder arrest 1st to come from Westmoreland grand jury
Criminal homicide charges filed in connection with the fatal shooting of a man in New Kensington more than two years ago was the first to result from a Westmoreland County investigating grand jury seated early last year, prosecutors said Wednesday. Larry Osborn Nix II, 41, of West Brownsville, Washington County,...
Philadelphia men sentenced for drug bust on PA Turnpike
Two Philadelphia men arrested for possession of an estimated $140,000 in fentanyl-laced heroin during a 2023 traffic stop along the Pennsylvania Turnpike were sentenced Tuesday to serve lengthy prison terms. Mario Antonio Caba, 39, and Elvis Luis Holguin Ventura, 29, were convicted of one felony and misdemeanor drug counts following...
Greensburg teen, 17, sentenced as adult for Hempfield armed robbery
A Greensburg teen has been ordered to serve up to 40 months in prison for his role in an armed robbery last year in Hempfield. Cayden Essway, 17, was prosecuted as an adult and pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of robbery and a misdemeanor weapons offense. Essway’s...
Westmoreland tax office director being let go after just 1 year on the job
The Westmoreland County commissioners on Tuesday confirmed that they are firing the director of the county’s tax office after just one year on the job. According to payroll records released by the county controller’s office, Sarah Minnick, who had served as director of the office that processes property tax payments...
Delmont man expected to blame wife for son’s torture slaying
A Delmont man charged along with his wife for the alleged torture and murder of their adopted son wants a separate trial, his lawyer said during a court hearing on Monday. Defense attorney Ken Noga told a county judge that evidence suggests that Lauren Maloberti was the person who beat...
Westmoreland inmate accused of stabbing mother should have kosher meals, she says
Although her son stands accused of trying to kill her, the mother of a Westmoreland County Prison inmate wants him to receive a special kosher diet based upon his religious beliefs. Rose Eckman asked members of the county’s prison board on Monday to allow her son — jailed for the...
Westmoreland Land Bank amps up effort to sell vacant properties
Formerly vacant properties could soon be on the market in Westmoreland County. The county’s land bank, the agency responsible for collecting and rehabilitating properties, has put out a call for private Realtors as part of an effort to amp up sales that officials say will help pay for the next...
East Huntingdon facility among bankrupt nursing homes scheduled for auction
A 35-bed nursing home in East Huntingdon is among six facilities in Western Pennsylvania targeted for sale this year. A public auction will be held in September to transfer ownership of Scottdale Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center in East Huntingdon, a closed facility in Jefferson Hills, the 67-bed Beaver Healthcare and...
Fraud case dismissed against Leechburg contractor
A judge on Wednesday dismissed the criminal case against a Leechburg contractor charged with defrauding a Unity couple in connection with a $59,000 home improvement project they claimed was never completed. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger ruled prosecutors had insufficient evidence to prove that Dawayne W. Redmond,...
Yarmulke-wearing inmate appears in Westmoreland County court
A Mt. Pleasant man attended a court hearing Wednesday with a yarmulke on his head, a week after he was denied transport from the county jail to the courthouse because he refused to remove it. Kort Noel Eckman, 49, sported a white head covering decorated with a floral pattern during...
Unity pizza shop robber sentenced
A Unity man was ordered to serve up to an additional 23 months in jail for the armed robbery last year of a pizza shop. Austin M. Lewis, 25, pleaded guilty in April to two felony robbery counts and two related misdemeanor offenses in connection with a Jan. 8, 2024...
