Westmoreland County stories of the year in 2022

Was it a dog or a wily coyote? That was a question on people’s minds in January, when a mangy 37-pound canine was found by a Fairfield woman. It was cared for at a Mt. Pleasant Township wildlife rehabilitation center until it escaped.

DNA tests ultimately confirmed it was 100% coyote.

It wasn’t the only notable animal story of the year. In July, Willie, a 120-pound pig, took off during a trip to a veterinarian in the Alverton area.

They were among the oddest stories the Tribune-­Review’s Westmoreland County reporters covered in 2022, the third year of the lingering covid-19 pandemic.

County residents also weren’t spared the effects of inflation and continuing supply-chain issues that meant everything from chicken wings to gas to Thanksgiving dinners cost more across the nation. That same inflation benefited some county officials, who will receive 7.8% pay raises in 2023 thanks to cost of living raises.

Here’s a look at some of the other major stories in Westmore­land County in 2022:

Excela, Butler Heath announce merger

A third Southwestern Pennsylvania health care conglomerate is in the works, as Excela Health and Butler Health System announced their intent to merge in June.

The combined organization “will present the requisite scale to accelerate and elevate its relevancy … in the region’s highly competitive health care marketplace,”, according to a joint statement from Excela and Butler Health.

The move was likely an effort by both systems to better position themselves as a player in a fieldlargely dominated by the health giants UPMC and Highmark Health’s Allegheny Health Network based in Pittsburgh, industry experts said.

The merger would bring two additional hospitals into a joint arrangement with Excela’s Latrobe, Westmoreland and Frick hospitals.

The news was received with cautious optimism by people in Mt. Pleasant, Latrobe and Greensburg.

“I think it’s going to make Excela stronger,” said Terry Carcella, Latrobe city manager. “The bigger you are, the better you are.”

Latrobe’s hospital, which opened in 1910, is one of three that operate under the Excela banner.

“We want that medical facility to continue here,” Carcella said. “It’s a great asset.”

When combined, the system is expected to employ 7,300 people and have more than 1,000 physicians and practitioners to serve about 750,000 people in Butler, Clarion and Westmoreland counties.

Excela CEO John Sphon told the Tribune-Review he doesn’t expect either patients or staff to experience much of a difference in how they access or provide care as the Greensburg-based hospital system moves forward with the merger.

Homicide charges filed in Cassandra Gross case

For more than four years, the family of Cassandra Gross has been pushing for charges to be filed against Thomas Stanko, the man suspected of killing Gross, of Unity, in 2018, although her remains have yet to be found.

In October, charges were filed against Stanko.

“I’m just so glad it’s to this point because it’s the beginning of the end,” Cassandra’s mother Kathe Gross said.

Troopers zeroed in on Stanko as a potential suspect almost immediately after Gross was reported missing, searching two properties he owned at the time in Unity. He was charged in October with homicide, reckless burning, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

“This is one of the largest and most complicated cases we’ve had in recent history,” said Lt. Christopher J. Terrana, criminal investigation section commander at Troop A’s Greensburg station.

Authorities don’t know how or were Gross died, but believe Stanko was responsible for her death.

Stanko is at the Westmoreland County Prison serving a seven-year federal gun sentence stemming from weapons police found during their searches. Gross would have turned 56 this year.

The charges filed against Stanko made good on a promise in April from District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli that the case remained a priority.

“This is one of the cases that was at the forefront of my mind when I took office (in January),” Ziccarelli said.

Greensburg dentist found guilty in wife’s death

In another high-profile case, former Greensburg dentist and big game hunter Lawrence Rudolph was found guilty in August of killing his wife, Bianca, in 2016 in Zambia as well as mail fraud for cashing in $4.8 million in life insurance claims in what prosecutors describe as a premeditated crime.

Rudolph founded and once operated Hempfield-­based Three Rivers Dental Group, which has offices in Greensburg, Cranberry, Greentree, Jennerstown and Washington.

He faces a maximum term of life in prison or the death penalty when he is sentenced in February. The charges were initially filed under seal in late 2021, but were made public in January.

Rudolph maintained his innocence and the two adult children he had with his wife sat in court to support him during the trial. One of Rudolph’s defense attorneys, David Markus, said they would appeal his conviction.

Throughout their marriage, the couple went on frequent hunting trips to Africa, and Bianca Rudolph became a well-­respected international hunter. She was the former president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Safari Club International. The couple moved to Arizona from Pennsylvania around 2012, although Lawrence Rudolph’s dental practice remained here and he traveled back and forth regularly.

The defense suggested Rudolph’s wife of 34 years, a nervous traveler, shot herself while trying to pack a shotgun in a hurry as they prepared to return to the United States in 2016.

But prosecutors countered that evidence showed that was impossible because the wound to her heart came from a shot fired from 2 to 3.5 feet away.

The case made international headlines and was profiled in several true-crime television programs.

Victor Steban pleads guilty to deadly spree

In another criminal case, Victor F. Steban, 54, of North Huntingdon showed no emotion and stared straight ahead during a two-hour hearing in June in which he pleaded guilty to the two murders and other violent crimes police said he committed over a four-day period in the spring of 2021.

Steban, who was brazen enough to gun down two people during the spree, refused to even make eye contact with family members of the victims in court.

“Evil does exist in this world, and it is sitting here in the courtroom today,” Zack Erdeljac said during his victim impact statement.

Steban pleaded guilty to 32 counts in seven cases, including the May 16, 2021, murders of Penn Township resident Jacob Erdeljac, 41, and his girlfriend, Mara Casale, 27.

He also pleaded guilty to firing shots into homes in Hempfield and Sewickley townships, attempting to steal a pickup at gunpoint, setting fire to his home in North Huntingdon and illegally possessing 11 guns.

In return for his pleas, prosecutors discontinued efforts to seek the death penalty against him for the murders.

Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger imposed the terms of the plea bargain, which called for Steban to serve two life prison sentences without parole. He also received concurrent sentences totaling 46 to 92 years behind bars.

Flash flooding in Unity’s village of Dorothy

Heavy rains in early August caused flash flooding throughout the region. The tiny village of Dorothy in Unity was particularly hard hit by the storm.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Kevin McCurdy, who has lived on Forest Avenue in the village of Dorothy, just south of Latrobe, for 17 years. “The water was up over the porch, and it got in the heating ductwork.”

A slow-moving storm system dumped between 1 and 2 inches of rain on Aug. 5 on parts of Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, causing flash flooding and evacuations in multiple neighborhoods.

All of the 42 homes in Dorothy were affected after the deluge of rain hit, prompting fire department boat rescues and an outpouring of donations and support. In the days afterward, volunteers helped clean up, and the American Red Cross established an emergency shelter. Unity emergency management director Tom Schultheis said 67 township properties were affected, including 13 businesses, and numerous local agencies pitched in to help with a variety of needs for residents and their pets.

The flooding wrought by the storm mirrored that of Connellsville’s Dutch Bottom in 2016.

“The storms were similar as far as they were a large amount of water in one unique area at the same time,” said Roland “Bud” Mertz, director of the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety.

Sen. Kim Ward gets expanded role

Hempfield’s Kim Ward, previously the majority leader of the Pennsylvania Senate, was appointed in November as president pro tempore.

She will oversee operations of the governing body and serve as its leader in the new position, holding the responsibility of selecting all committee chairs and handling nominations.

But that doesn’t mean she will forget about Westmoreland County, she told the Tribune-Review.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we help the county,” she said.

Ward succeeds State Sen. Jake Corman in the role. His term expires at the end of 2022 and he did not seek reelection.

For the past two years, Ward has served as the Senate’s majority leader. That also was a history-making role, as she was the first woman to rise to that level of leadership. In an interview, Ward called the appointment the “highest honor.”

“It doesn’t matter what gender you are, and it doesn’t matter what color of skin you have,” she said. “You can get there.”

County cuts ties with Dr. Cyril Wecht

Earlier this month, Westmoreland County cut ties with renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht.

County commissioners instead approved a one-year contract with Wecht’s former assistant to do autopsies for Coroner Tim Carson and rent the autopsy suite at Westmoreland’s forensics center in Hempfield.

Wecht, 92, has worked as the county’s private pathologist for more than a half century.

“Age is definitely something we looked at and, without knowing what the future holds, we can’t be caught with our guard down,” Carson said.

A Republican who took office in January after ousting longtime Coroner Ken Bacha, Carson said personnel defections in Wecht’s office caused concern about the veteran pathologist’s ability to handle high-profile investigations and a potential mass casualty event.

Dr. Jennifer Hammers, who since 2017 has served as Wecht’s assistant, is replacing him. She left his employ in November and formed her own pathology practice.

Hammers, 45, of Beaver County, said it was the right time to break away from Wecht when she learned Westmoreland officials were seeking competitive proposals for the county pathologist.

“It will be big shoes to fill. My goal is to provide excellent service to the county, the coroner and the district attorney,” Hammers said.

Wecht said he was blindsided by the decision.

“After 55 years they made this decision. They came into my office and didn’t give me any reason. They wanted me to say I was retiring. I am not retiring,” Wecht said.

County hires back former Shuman Juvenile Detention Center director

In another personnel move, county officials in April rehired the man who ran the county’s juvenile detention center nearly a decade ago before he took the helm of the of the now-shuttered Shuman Juvenile Detention Center in Pittsburgh.

Rich Gordon served as director of Westmoreland County’s Regional Youth Services Center from 2013-15.

Gordon left Westmoreland County to serve as a deputy director at Allegheny County’s 120-bed detention center in 2015. He served as that facility’s director from 2017 until last summer, when the state revoked its license after a series of inspections found continuing problems with operations.

Following Shuman’s closing, Gordon worked as an administrator in Allegheny County’s Children and Youth Services department.

Gordon’s new salary is $91,800. He replaced Nicole Kamer, who in August 2020 was named the detention center’s permanent director after serving as the facility’s deputy director. She was being paid $66,000.

Earlier this month, Kamer, of East Vandergrift, filed a federal lawsuit that she was discriminated against when she was replaced by Gordon, who was given a salary $25,000 more than hers.

Kamer was told the county commissioners intended to rehire Gordon because some members felt a man would be better suited for the position, according to the suit.

She filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June.

Kamer is seeking compensation of lost wages and benefits.