According to police, David McGinnis told his mother that leaving a threatening voice mail for the accuser in a case against his cellmate could be considered a “job interview.”
McGinnis, 27, of Bolivar, can be heard instructing his mother, Denise McGinnis, 49, of Bolivar, on recorded phone calls from the Westmoreland County Prison on exactly what to say in the message, according to police. The message was left the morning of an indirect criminal contempt hearing for David McGinnis’ former cellmate, Joshua Petrill, 39, of Penn Township, said Westmoreland County Detective Nick Caesar.
Prosecutors played the message in district court during preliminary hearings Friday. In it, a female posing as a county judge’s staff member instructs Petrill’s accuser that testifying against him could result in criminal charges or damage to her reputation or career.
“The voice on the voice mail was identified as Denise McGinnis,” Caesar testified. “The phone number used to call (the accuser) was that of Denise McGinnis.”
District Judge Mark Mansour ordered intimidation, retaliation and related charges against both McGinnises and Petrill to be held for court. A fourth co-defendant, Matraca Vrana, 26, of Northern Cambria, waived her charges to court in that case and a second one involving charges of conspiracy and attempted contraband.
Mansour ordered both McGinnises, Petrill and Terry Bruce Ely Jr., 31, of Greensburg, to stand trial on the conspiracy accusations. A sixth defendant accused in the conspiracy, Matthew Daniel Lucas, 38, of Jeannette, waived his charges to court.
Defense attorneys focused on the roles their clients are alleged to have had in the conspiracy and pressed investigators on how they identified voices in the jail phone calls during a nearly two-hour preliminary hearing. Plexiglas had been set up around Mansour and at the counsel table. Attorneys and defendants wore masks during the proceeding.
Jail Lt. Brad Tomasello testified that he listened to numerous phone calls, some that involved multiple defendants on three-way calls, made from the jail in January and February. The discussions detailed plans by David McGinnis and Vrana to smuggle suboxone into the Hempfield facility. The plans failed.
Tomasello said Vrana was asked by McGinnis to hide 10 Suboxone strips, three sheets of paper soaked in synthetic marijuana and other items at the office of District Judge Wayne Gongaware in North Huntingdon. Petrill was set to be taken there on Feb. 5 for a preliminary hearing on a stalking charge and planned to retrieve them.
However, sheriff’s deputy Isaiah Jenkins testified that Petrill didn’t get anything because investigators got a tip about the plan and Jenkins was able to keep an eye on him.
“From that point on, I believe (Vrana) lied to (McGinnis) and never delivered the package,” Tomasello testified.
Ely, who was being housed at the jail at the time, also called Vrana in mid-January and set up a meeting between her and Lucas, an inmate who had work release privileges, to get Suboxone into the jail, according to Tomasello. That meeting never happened.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli argued that the contraband conspiracy spilled over into the plans to threaten the woman who is accusing Petrill of stalking her. David McGinnis hoped that getting Petrill out of jail would help his plans to smuggle drugs into the facility, Iannamorelli said.
Defense attorneys argued that their clients had little or no involvement in the alleged contraband conspiracy.
“Just because her mere presence during a three-way call, there’s no active criminal conduct,” said attorney Tim Dawson who represents Denise McGinnis.
“There is a gigantic hole in the middle of the Commonwealth’s case,” argued attorney Ken Noga, who is representing David McGinnis.
All six defendants remain held in the jail.
