Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 78

Westmoreland County has the “help wanted” sign out to fill jobs in several departments but, as has been the case in the private sector, there isn’t enough community interest to fill vacant positions. It has been so much of a challenge to fill the roster of guards at the county...

A Westmoreland County jury on Thursday convicted a Latrobe man of sexual assault but not rape. Prosecutors said Hunter Jones Hoyle, 22, assaulted a 20-year-old woman after she fell asleep in a friend’s room in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2020, following a party at a home on...

Civic duty hasn’t quite been the lure Westmoreland elections officials had hoped to attract people to work the polls on Election Day, so county commissioners will offer more cash as an incentive. Commissioners, acting as the elections board, on Friday issued massive raises to reward those who worked at the...

A Westmoreland County jury late Thursday found former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez guilty of sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. The jury found Vazquez guilty on 15 counts, including the most serious charges of statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact or communication with a minor, indecent assault and corruption of...

It took more than 22 hours after Westmoreland County polls closed Tuesday night before complete unofficial results from the hundreds of primary races were posted to the county’s website. Updated results to reflect totals from all 307 precincts and the nearly 13,000 mail-in ballots that arrived at the courthouse by...

Suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez told a Westmoreland County jury Wednesday that he religiously sought confirmation of the 50 woman he met online to ensure they were above the age of consent during the two years prosecutors said he conducted a sexual relationship with a teenager. Vazquez, 29, served...

Westmoreland County voters in November will officially elect new magisterial district judges to preside over courts based in Derry, Penn Township, Unity and Youngwood. But it appeared from unofficial election returns that all four races had already been decided. Each district had contested races Tuesday in which candidates cross-filed to...

Westmoreland County’s Acting Clerk of Courts Megan Loughner held a wide lead in Tuesday’s Republican primary to run for a full four-year term to run the office to oversee the county’s criminal court records. With 288 of the 307 precincts reporting, Loughner, 36, of Unity, had 65% of the votes...

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez, during a police interrogation at his Strip District apartment in September 2019, initially claimed he knew his teen accuser was young and told investigators her age was why he refused to communicate with her over the previous two years. Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michael Thompson,...

A former accountant at Westmoreland County Community College was ordered to serve five years of probation for the theft of more than $54,000 from the school’s student government account. Shirley Ferrenberg, 60, of Unity, pleaded guilty Monday to one felony theft count in connection with the funds police say were...

A 17-year-old girl testified Monday she thought it was “super cool” when Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Felipe Vazquez responded to her social media message in which she wished him a happy birthday in July 2017. Six weeks later, with her parents away for the day, Vazquez had sex with her...

For months as the coronavirus pandemic raged, Westmoreland County drug court participants quarantined at home and away from the much-needed counsel and treatment for their addictions. That’s where Tony Marcocci, a detective with the county District Attorney’s Office, stepped up, according to the two judges who oversee the special court...

Westmoreland officials on Friday said anyone who is fully vaccinated against coronavirus will no longer be required to wear masks at the courthouse and in most other government buildings. “We are all looking forward to getting back to normal,” county Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said. According to a memo released...

Testimony in the sexual assault trial of former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez will begin Monday morning in a Westmoreland County courtroom. Twelve jurors and two alternates were seated Friday for what is expected to be a three-day trial after Vazquez was accused of having sexual relations with a 13-year...

Westmoreland County’s Election Bureau will be open this weekend to distribute ballots to voters who requested but not received their mail-in and absentee ballots for Tuesday’s primary election. The courthouse office will operate from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to reissue ballots, said Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani....

Westmoreland County elections officials said Thursday that all 18,000-plus mail-in ballots requested for Tuesday’s primary have been sent. Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said the last batch of ballots, requested in the final days before the May 11 deadline, were mailed Wednesday and should arrive by this weekend. As of...

Westmoreland commissioners said the county will receive $105.3 million in federal coronavirus relief funds that will be used to fund a variety of needed capital improvements and ultimately negate the need for a tax hike. Commissioners on Thursday formally applied for the money allocated through the $1.9 trillion American Rescue...

A quarter of Westmoreland County’s 16 district courts will see a new judge in 2022. Eleven candidates are seeking four contested seats on the local courts seeking to replace three retiring judges and fill one seat left vacant by a resignation. Judicial candidates are permitted to cross-file and all will...

A Kittanning man will serve up to five years in prison for two incidents last year in Allegheny Township and Vandergrift in which police said he became physical with arresting officers. Jacob John Zoeller, 27, pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, child endangerment and resisting arrest in connection with a...

The lawyer for a Unity man accused in the shooting death of a Derry mother contends murder charges should be dismissed for a lack of evidence. Police contend Nathan Quidetto, 21, sought revenge for a drug deal gone awry when at 4 a.m. July 20 he fired shots into a...

Westmoreland officials said Tuesday that dozens of poll workers are needed to staff the county’s 307 voting precincts for the May 18 primary. In all, the county needs 11 judges of elections and as many as 50 poll workers, Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said. Judges of elections are needed...

Westmoreland County elections officials on Monday continued to piece together how the race for a district judge’s seat was excluded from mail-in ballots sent to voters last week in four Mt. Pleasant Township precincts. “It’s my responsibility,” Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said of the oversight that led to 189...

A Westmoreland County prosecutor argued in court Monday that a former part-time Mt. Pleasant Borough police officer who used an escalating level of violence in sexual attacks against three women should spend up to 50 years in prison. “Law enforcement officials carry badges. If you look at it, it’s a...

Pittsburgh police Sunday morning continued to look for a suspect that officials said was at the center of a standoff with officers late Saturday night in Beltzhoover. Officials said members of Pittsburgh’s SWAT team surrounded a house on the 100 block of Freeland Street just before 10 p.m. after a...

Westmoreland County officials acknowledged that more than 190 incorrect mail-in ballots were issued to voters in Mt. Pleasant Township. Ballots issued to voters in four precincts — Ridgeview, Mammoth, United and Westmoreland Homestead — erroneously omitted the race for district judge to replace Michael Mahady, who will retire at the...