Tony LaRussa stories, Page 40
Lower Burrell police accuse man of endangering his kids by driving drunk with them in vehicle
Lower Burrell police charged a man with two felony counts of endangering the welfare of children after police said he was driving drunk with his two daughters in the vehicle early Friday morning. After being taken into custody, the man’s school-age children were turned over to the Westmoreland County Children’s...
Harrison man accused of having backpack full of drugs in car after traffic stop
Arnold City police arrested a man on felony drug charges after officers searched his vehicle following a traffic stop and found a backpack filled with prescription narcotics, marijuana and other drugs. Jason John Sciubba Jr., 22, of Vine Street in Harrison was charged with four felony counts of the manufacture,...
Police say Indiana County man tried to meet with teen girl in Arnold for sex
An Indiana County man was charged with two felonies Wednesday that accuse him of trying to meet up with a 15-year-old girl in Arnold for sex. Authorities say he thought he was communicating with her on social media and by telephone for two weeks. But instead of meeting the girl...
New book chronicles pioneering amusement park family that operated West View Park
The amusement park that operated for 71 years in West View was already long gone and replaced with a shopping center by the time Mike Funyak was born in 1992. But his life-long love and fascination for amusement parks left him longing to learn all that he could about the...
Brackenridge man arrested after, police say, homeowner finds him eating ice cream at kitchen table
A Brackenridge man was arrested after a borough resident told police he returned to his Cleveland Avenue home Thanksgiving Day and found the man sitting at the kitchen table eating ice cream. Richard Troup, 46, of Sixth Avenue was charged with two felony counts each of burglary and criminal trespass...
Upper Burrell woman accused of stealing car, driving it while high on crack
An Upper Burrell woman was arrested on felony charges after police accused her of stealing a car and driving it while under the influence of crack cocaine. Barbara Jane Miller, 30, of Keibler Beach Drive, is being detained in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh after failing to post a...
Cyberattack on Butler college part of growing trend; experts urge vigilance to thwart hackers
Organizations that keep sensitive information in their computer systems can’t do much to avoid being targeted by cyberattackers. But experts say they can do things to reduce the damage wreaked by an attack. A cyberattack on Butler County Community College’s computer system forced the campus to shut down Monday and...
Vandergrift woman charged with filing false claims to get $25K in Medicaid payments
A Vandergrift woman is accused of illegally receiving more than $25,300 in Medicaid payments by submitting false time sheets to a program that pays people who provide in-home personal care for patients. An agent with the state Attorney General’s office charged Christina Jean Myers, 39, of Lowell Street with felony...
West Deer woman charged with allowing child to spend time with registered sex offender
A West Deer woman is accused of repeatedly allowing a young boy to spend time with a convicted sex offender, according to police. West Deer police charged Amy Lynn Lambert, 46, with one count of felony endangering the welfare of children. At the time, she was already detained in the...
Man charged with attempting to arrange sex meeting with teen in New Kensington
A Washington County man is accused of arranging to meet with a 15-year-old girl in New Kensington for sex in exchange for cash and drugs after answering an advertisement on a website offering escort services, according to authorities. The girl was, in reality, a state law enforcement agent posing as...
Medical examiner: Man pulled from river in Plum Sept. 1 drowned accidentally
A man whose body was pulled from the Allegheny River in Plum on Sept. 1 died accidentally from drowning, according to the Allegheny County medical examiner. Shawn M. Ferraccio, 46, of Washington Township, was found dead in the river shortly before 10:30 a.m. after police responded to the 100 block...
Hearing for man accused in fatal shooting at Upper Burrell tavern delayed for 2 months
A preliminary hearing for a man charged with fatally shooting a customer at an Upper Burrell tavern on Nov. 13 has been delayed for two months to give his defense attorney more time to prepare a case. Daniel J. Moles, 61, of Dogwood Lane, Lower Burrell was scheduled to appear...
Freeport officials mum on missing EMS money and its repayment
Freeport officials won’t say how much money was taken by someone working for the borough’s emergency medical service in early 2020. But the borough’s lawyer recently issued a statement to clarify what he says is false information circulating by word of mouth about how the borough handled the apparent misappropriation...
Online fundaiser set up for Lower Burrell volunteer firefighter whose home caught fire
A fundraising effort is underway to help a Lower Burrell volunteer firefighter’s family after their home was heavily damaged by fire Thursday morning. Multiple fire companies responded to the blaze along Fairview Drive. Angela Veri has lived in the home for 14 years with her husband, two daughters and son,...
Missing Allegheny Township police ammo recovered — minus 13 bullets
All but 13 of the 1,000 rounds of .45-caliber ammunition that went missing instead of being delivered to the Allegheny Township Police Department last week have been recovered. Police Chief Duane Fisher became suspicious of the Nov. 8 delivery by United Parcel Service when he saw the driver carrying the...
Fire hits Lower Burrell home owned by woman who lost father in blaze 30 years ago
Angela Veri was on her way to work after dropping off her daughter at school Thursday when a neighbor called to tell her she saw smoke coming from her home on Fairview Drive in Lower Burrell. She knew, because nobody was at home, her family was safe as firefighters from...
Plum library, schools team with 412 Food Rescue to get leftovers to needy residents
Pam Fauls heard about the 412 Food Rescue program long before the coronavirus put people out of work and caused prices to skyrocket because of shutdowns and short supplies. But it wasn’t until restrictions on in-person gatherings were lifted that she was able to launch a program in her own...
Pair accused of stealing copper wire from shuttered ATI plant in Gilpin
A man and woman each were charged with four felony counts in connection with the theft of about 150 pounds of copper wire on Tuesday from the idled Allegheny Technologies Inc. plant in Gilpin, according to police. Township police arrested John Diehl, 37, of Clinton Township and Casey Finley, 35,...
Police: Watson Institute nurse stabbed by woman wielding knife during hostage situation
A New Castle woman is accused of stabbing a nurse, taking a boy hostage and biting police officers during an incident at a school in Leet Wednesday. Leet police said Rochelle Lynn Pinkle, 40, was subdued with a Taser because she would not surrender to officers, a criminal complaint against...
Building the Valley: West Deer’s ‘Round the Corner Carryout moving up the street to new digs under construction
Six years ago, Steve and Amy Boop decided to turn their experience working in restaurants into their own venture: a food truck with gourmet wraps. But another opportunity was knocking, right around the corner. “We had everything pretty much ready to do that,” said Amy Boop, 35, of the food...
Kiski Township police charge man with squatting in North Apollo house; stolen items recovered
Kiski Township police arrested a man on Monday for squatting in a vacant house where they also found stolen items and evidence of drug use. Officers responding to a call for a suspicious man along Hickory Nut Road in North Apollo shortly after 8:30 p.m. searched the neighborhood and found...
Freeport has no cops after chief quits at end of 1st shift; state police covering borough
Freeport hasn’t had a police officer on duty since Nov. 3, when the newly hired police chief quit at the end of his first shift. With no officers left on the force, state police are handling calls in the 1.3-square-mile borough of about 1,700 residents, officials said. Retired Plum police...
Kiski Township police charge man with strangling, raping woman during dispute over missing cell phone
Kiski Township police arrested a man after a woman accused him of strangling and raping her during an argument that started over his missing cellphone, according to authorities. Jordan Michael Coleman, 32, of Acheson Avenue, North Apollo, is charged with four felonies in connection with the Oct. 28 incident, according...
Traffic stop leads Kiski Township police to arrest man on parole violation for drug conviction
In a traffic stop Wednesday, Kiski Township police arrested a man wanted for a parole violation on drug charges from 2019, according to authorities. An officer on patrol along Route 56 stopped Damien Kemerer, 32, of Vandergrift after he ran a stop sign at Balsiger Road, according to a criminal...
1,000 rounds of ammunition disappear on way to Allegheny Township Police Dept.
Allegheny Township police Chief Duane Fisher didn’t have to open the box delivered to his station Monday to know there was something wrong with the delivery of ammunition for his department. “As soon as I saw the (United Parcel Service) driver get out of the truck carrying the box rather...
