Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 77
Trial begins for Allegheny Township man charged with sexually assaulting 3 children, 3 adults
An Allegheny Township man charged with the sexual assaults of three children and three adults over two decades showed no emotion Monday as the first of his accusers struggled to testify about the alleged abuses she claims she suffered in 2019. The now 14-year-old girl from New Kensington, who prosecutors...
Campaign for drug treatment, recovery programs unveiled for Westmoreland, eastern Allegheny residentsVideo
The U.S. Justice Department on Monday announced a new public campaign to promote local addiction and recovery programs to combat the still climbing numbers of drug overdoses and deaths in Western Pennsylvania. The Press Play PA program will target Westmoreland County and eastern Allegheny County communities to highlight efforts being...
WCCC trustee says he’s being punished for speaking out about school mask policy
Controversial statements that criticized a mask mandate at Westmoreland County Community College could result in the ouster of a member of the school’s board of trustees. A majority of trustees met behind closed doors this month to discuss potential censure of Doug Weimer, who publicly questioned the college’s mask policy...
Municipal Authority approves water sale for fracking site
Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members on Friday approved a deal to sell raw, untreated water to a local energy company for a new gas well expected to be drilled next year in Upper Burrell. The deal will allow Olympus Energy of Canonsburg to purchase up to 2.2 million...
Loyalhanna man sentenced in connection with raid on suspected meth lab
A Loyalhanna man was ordered to serve up to 23 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to two drug charges. Brian Miller, 52, was arrested in April after the state police raided his home and found chemicals and equipment that investigators said were precursors to manufacture methamphetamine. As part...
Penn Township man pleads guilty to stalking and role in failed jail drug smuggling plot
Tracey Boyle made it perfectly clear she no longer wanted anything to do with her former boyfriend after enduring months of fear and concern over the safety for herself and her children. “No one would logically sign up for you. Your behavior came to be of a child who didn’t...
Salem man pleads guilty to blackmailing local teens for sex photos
A Salem man pleaded guilty to charges he blackmailed local teens to send naked pictures to him. Dylan James Krupitzer, 20, was charged last year after police said he contacted a 16-year-old girl in 2019 through a social media account and demanded she send him pornographic pictures of herself. Police...
Penn Township man pleads guilty to stalking and role in failed jail drug smuggling plot
Tracey Boyle made it perfectly clear she no longer wanted anything to do with her former boyfriend after enduring months of fear and concern over the safety for herself and her children. “No one would logically sign up for you. Your behavior came to be of a child who didn’t...
Greensburg man guilty in rape of unconscious woman
A Greensburg man was convicted of the rape of an unconscious woman and the indecent assault of another in a city apartment three years ago. Westmoreland County Judge Christopher Feliciani on Tuesday found Levi Evans, 24, guilty of four charges in connection with the Jan. 18, 2018, incident. Two women...
Westmoreland tax delinquent property sale nets $1.5 million
Bryaunt Williams came to bid. Williams, a contractor from Tarentum, was one of the more than 160 potential buyers who came to the Westmoreland County Courthouse on Monday to find a deal during the annual sale of tax delinquent properties. “I was doing remodeling work on a home last year,...
Westmoreland Commissioner Chew pledges to cover lost drug court grant for weekend testing
Westmoreland Commissioner Doug Chew said he will pay for weekend drug tests of participants in the county’s drug court program until a permanent funding source is secured. In an email sent to county judges over the weekend, the first-term Republican from Hempfield pledged to help identify future funding sources for...
4th man pleads guilty to Sutersville shooting, agrees to cooperate with possible murder probe
An Allegheny County man pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated assault, burglary and robbery charges and agreed to cooperate with a police investigation into the disappearance of a woman who has not been seen since two people were shot in Sutersville during a drug-related robbery three years ago. Dylan John Vasko,...
Westmoreland drug court needs cash but commissioner’s pledged donation still MIA
Westmoreland’s drug court is in dire need of cash after the county learned this week it lost a grant that pays for weekend testing of participants. The shortfall could be made up through a 2019 campaign pledge from Doug Chew to donate 60% of his commissioner’s salary to fund drug...
New Kensington man pleads guilty to sale of fatal drugs in 2017 overdose
A New Kensington man was ordered to serve at least five years in prison in connection with the sale of drugs used in a fatal overdose in 2017. Martez D. “Chico” Whitlow, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of drug delivery resulting in death and an additional drug-related count...
Greene County man to serve probation, house arrest for assault, drugging of 2-year-old
The lawyer for a Greene County man who pleaded guilty to a brutal assault of a 2-year-old Derry boy in 2016 told a judge on Friday his client was the most “damaged” person he’s ever represented. Defense attorney Gary Gerson said Cory Andrew Kuntz, 28, was a victim of sexual...
Westmoreland officials seek public input for spending $105 million in covid relief funds
Westmoreland County spent just more than 1% of the $105 million it expects to receive in relief funds from the American Rescue Plan and wants the public’s ideas for how the bulk of the remaining cash should be used. Commissioners posted a bare-bones survey on the county’s web page that...
Judges orders jail sentence for New Kensington man in girlfriend’s death
Andrew Brown told a judge on Thursday he hadn’t spoken to his mother for more than a year before she was killed by her boyfriend during an altercation four years ago in a Lower Burrell parking lot. “I still loved her, and now I will never have another chance to...
Westmoreland officials seek public input for spending $105 million in covid relief funds
Westmoreland County spent just more than 1% of the $105 million it expects to receive in relief funds from the American Rescue Plan and wants the public’s ideas for how the bulk of the remaining cash should be used. Commissioners posted a bare-bones survey on the county’s web page that...
Jeannette man seeks to withdraw rape plea 7 years later
A former Jeannette man serving decades behind bars for three different crimes wants to withdraw a guilty plea he entered more than seven years ago to charges that he raped a woman and held her captive for a week. Derrick Cobbs, 45, now claims the plea he entered was not...
Demolition begins in downtown GreensburgVideo
With the push and pull of a 25-foot claw attached to heavy equipment stationed on South Pennsylvania Avenue in Greensburg, workers started the laborious task of bringing down a dilapidated former restaurant building Sunday morning. The three-story building that once housed the former Derby’s Delicatessen but has been vacant for...
Westmoreland pension fund at all-time high with $675 million banked
Stock market advances and a cash infusion pushed Westmoreland County’s pension fund to a record level, with more than $675 million socked away to pay benefits for the county’s 1,400 retirees. Proceeds from a $126 million bond purchase this summer hit the pension fund in August, a move county officials said...
The muddier the better: Runners and the adventurous slog up and down Seven Springs mountain just for funVideo
Miranda Veliky was caked in mud Saturday morning, and she didn’t care a bit. Veliky, 23, of New Stanton was one of about 1,000 athletes who jumped, swam, climbed and toppled through mud and water and along the wooded trails that traversed up, over and down the Laurel Mountains during...
Man charged in Beechview shooting, victim identified
Police charged a Pittsburgh man with criminal homicide and aggravated assault in connection with a shooting late Friday night in Beechview. Darrell Mutzig, 37, was identified by police as the man arrested and charged with the fatal shooting just after 11 p.m. at Methyl Street at Hampshire Avenue where a...
Lower Burrell man sentenced to at least 2½ years in prison for guns theft from city home
A Lower Burrell man has been sentenced to serve at least 2½ years in prison for the thefts of guns from a city home. Jordan Bradley Keibler, 27, pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple theft counts and other offenses in connection with incidents Lower Burrell police said occurred in June. According...
Westmoreland County makes changes to comply with Open Meeting Law
Westmoreland County commissioners are becoming an open book, so to speak. An expansion of the state’s Open Meeting Law, which went into effect Aug. 29, means an agenda detailing items up for debate or vote by the commissioners must be available to the public at least one day in advance....
