Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 75

A Westmoreland County prosecutor will seek to retry a Pittsburgh man on gun and drug charges after a jury was unable to reach a verdict this week. Prosecutors contend Stefon Wilson, 23, along with other adults and a juvenile, sold heroin and cocaine from a Jeannette home in 2019. Jurors...

Although human services account for 35% of Westmoreland’s $339 million annual budget, it has been several years since any one person oversaw operations for child welfare, aging, behavioral health and developmental programs operated by the county. That is expected to change later this year through $250,000 grant from the Richard...

A Westmoreland County jury convicted a Monessen man of the sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl. Jurors heard testimony from six witnesses over two days and deliberated more than four hours on Wednesday before finding Damien R. Bryan, 20, guilty of two felony charges of indecent assault of a person...

Water restrictions for about 250 Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County customers in McKeesport will remain in place for a least several additional days as officials await results from ongoing testing to determine if dangerous chemicals used to fight a fire last weekend contaminated a section of the city’s water system....

A woman who prosecutors said served as a drug mule for a heroin trafficking organization in Westmoreland County that was conceived of as a way to pay a convicted drug dealer’s legal expenses was herself convicted Wednesday. A jury deliberated about two hours before finding Sade Franklin, 34, formerly of...

A Westmoreland County prosecutor on Tuesday said a Harrisburg woman brought thousands of dollars worth of heroin into the region five years ago as part of a scheme by a convicted drug dealer to pay for the appeal of his 30-year prison sentence. Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar told jurors...

A homeless man was released from jail Monday after he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and other offenses in connection with a November 2018 robbery and shooting in Sutersville that left two people wounded. Chad W. Wolfe, 36, was one of four men charged in connection the incident police said...

Westmoreland Commissioner Doug Chew on Monday accused Sheriff James Albert of ignoring a court order that officials say requires his deputies to take sick inmates to and from the county jail. “The sheriff is derelict in his duties,” said Chew, chairman of the Westmoreland County Prison Board. Chew’s comments came...

Go Westmoreland paratransit bus drivers are getting raises. Westmoreland County Transit Authority board members this week approved 4.6% raises for nonunion drivers with the agency’s shared-ride program which provides subsidized door-to-door trips in small buses to seniors, disabled and low-income riders. Driver pay will increase to $15 per hour starting...

Westmoreland County is upping the ante to hire nurses. With nearly three dozen openings at Westmoreland Manor, the county-owned nursing home in Hempfield, officials said increased signing bonuses will be paid to new hires during the final five months of this year. They will receive up to $6,000 in addition...

A former Mt. Pleasant massage parlor owner who served more than a year in jail for human trafficking told a Westmoreland County judge Thursday she did not understand English well enough to plead guilty in late 2019. Hui Xu, 46, testifying through a translator, claimed she did not fully comprehend...

Westmoreland commissioners on Thursday said the recent firing of the county’s election bureau director was necessary in response to a series of errors that plagued the May primary. Speaking publicly for the first time about the decision to oust JoAnn Sebastiani, commissioners said the county conducted “administrative inquires” that initially...

Westmoreland Commissioner Doug Chew on Thursday defended his decision to withhold a promised donation to fund the county’s drug court program. During his campaign for county commissioner in 2019, Chew, a first-term Republican, pledged to donate 60% of his salary to help fund drug court. After questioned by county Controller...

A former Latrobe man will serve up to 20 years in prison for the rape of a Hempfield woman that police said took place just hours after he was released from jail last fall. Zachery David Kimmick, 31, of Homer City pleaded guilty to felony counts of rape and involuntary...

Potential buyers at Westmoreland County’s next sale of tax-delinquent properties will have to register in advance and pay a required fee to be eligible to bid at auction. County commissioners are expected on Thursday to approve a new $25 registration fee to cover administrative costs. New registration provisions, enacted through...

A judge on Tuesday said a Unity woman jailed for the past year after she was accused of using a pen to attack a nurse at Excela Westmoreland Hospital is not competent to stand trial. Susan Barkley, 42, will undergo treatment for the next two months in an effort to...

The former Pagan’s Motorcycle Club leader who police said was a target of a North Huntingdon man now awaiting trial for two murders and shooting at three local homes will be under the same roof at the end of July. An amended court order signed July 9 by Westmoreland County...

A Jeannette man will serve up to 10 years in prison for his role in the gunpoint robbery and shooting of two men at a Sutersville home almost three years ago. Aaron Devaugntae Brown, 29, pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of aggravated assault, two robbery charges and single burglary...

A Westmoreland County judge on Monday compared the September 2017 attack on a Saint Vincent College student to a horror movie as she imposed a 10-year prison sentence against the former Somerset County man convicted in April of attempted rape. “This type of offense is truly the kind of things...

Westmoreland Commissioner Sean Kertes, along with his chief of staff and the county treasurer, on Thursday announced the formation of a private, nonprofit entity that will work to connect high school students and young adults with skilled labor jobs. Grow Westmoreland will solicit private donations and conduct fundraising events to...

Westmoreland County’s former election bureau director was out of a job a week before her bosses officially signed off on her removal, according to a document obtained by the Tribune-Review. JoAnn Sebastiani was fired as elections bureau director effective June 19, according to an “action form” created by the county’s...

An Armstrong County woman police said was drunk when she caused a vehicle crash in New Kensington that seriously injured two women will serve almost two years in jail. Victoria Fink, 60, of Dayton, was sentenced Thursday to serve one year, less a day, to two years less two days...

A Jeannette man will serve up to 30 years in prison for carjacking a West Leechburg woman parked in front of the Westmoreland County Prison as her 13-month-old grandson was in the vehicle, which later crashed two miles from the lockup. Thomas Lee Williams, 38, formerly of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty...

The Westmoreland County commissioners said Tuesday they will hire a new election bureau director. Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani was suspended with pay on June 8, and none of the three commissioners has disclosed reasons for that disciplinary action. Sebastiani, 63, was hired last August to run the department. She...