Paul Peirce stories, Page 61

A Penn-Trafford senior is accused by police with driving a car down a high school walking path, through a grass sports practice field, over a hillside and through a nearby homeowner’s yard in an attempt to flee a crash in a high school parking lot May 23. Chance A. Orr,...

A Penn Township man who has been in the Westmoreland County Prison for nearly three years accused of firing a rifle shot that pierced a wall and nearly hit a police officer will be released to await his July 11 trial. Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger granted a motion filed...

Motorists who use the Route 119 North ramp in Hempfield to enter Interstate 70 West will have a detour for three weeks beginning Monday, according to PennDOT. The ramp near New Stanton will be closed for repaving, according to PennDOT spokesperson Valerie Petersen. A marked detour will use routes in...

A longtime Youngwood street department worker was arrested Thursday by Westmoreland County detectives on charges he intentionally damaged a street sweeper and dump truck by moving them into waist-deep water inside the borough garage during a flood last September. Clifford A. Long, 59, was suspended last September when the criminal...

A Bronx, N.Y., man who led a state trooper on a five-mile chase that reached over 100 mph along Route 22 in Salem on Wednesday was found to be transporting more than 23 bricks of heroin, state police reported. Holiday L. Vaughn, 35, was arrested just before 7 p.m. after...

The murder trial of a Jeannette woman accused in the bludgeoning death of her 19-year-old boyfriend will be held in October. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani this week ordered jury selection for Crystal Belle’s first-degree murder trial to be held Oct. 2 with the trial to start...

Russ Mitchell said Wednesday that he was not looking forward to listening to 18 minutes of the “most stressful time in my life” delivering his 6-pound, 2-ounce daughter on April 27 along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Penn Township. Mitchell, of West Newton, said he was eager to meet the Westmoreland...

A Hempfield man accused of beating his 92-year-old father to death last December before setting the house on fire has been deemed mentally competent to proceed to court on homicide and related criminal charges. Douglas F. Novak, 41, appeared in court Wednesday, his hands and legs shackled and wearing a...

A Crime Stoppers’ tip led police to a 29-year-old Greensburg man who admitted robbing a Sunoco convenience store-service station downtown twice in March, according court documents. Brad L. Smith, 29, was arrested Monday on two counts each of robbery and receiving stolen property in connection with the holdups that occurred...

State police in Uniontown arrested a Uniontown couple in connection with a strong-arm robbery of an 80-year-old Dunbar Township man outside his home. David E. Millero, 29, and Tiffany L. Evans, 27, were arrested on multiple criminal charges in connection with the robbery and assault of John O. Welsh about...

A Unity man who had his conviction of raping a teenage girl overturned will be released on home electronic monitoring while waiting to see if a state appellate court will make him stand a second trial. In August, a Westmoreland County jury found Bruce J. Palmer, 34, guilty of rape,...

A Derry man was arrested this week, accused of assaulting and harassing an ex-girlfriend twice on Tuesday. State police arrested Dewayne Mack, 29, on charges of burglary, criminal trespass, simple assault, harassment and strangulation. Police say he assaulted and choked his ex-girlfriend inside her Hempfield Township apartment Tuesday morning. Trooper...

State police in Uniontown are seeking help identifying the driver of a blue Chevrolet Malibu who allegedly assaulted and robbed an 80-year-old Dunbar Township man outside his home Thursday. State Trooper Robert Broadwater said the victim had just visited an ATM at the PNC Bank branch along Route 119 in...

Despite arguing that a social media post accusing someone of being a “liar” does not amount to a crime, a Mt. Pleasant woman accused of running four massage parlors in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties was ordered to stand trial for intimidating a witness Friday after allegedly making such a claim...

Greensburg Police are asking the public’s help in identifying a man who stole a crossbow from an outdoors store and fled into the woods Wednesday. Police said the theft occurred about 3:45 p.m. when the suspect entered the store and removed a crossbow from a box, then ran into a...

A Jeannette man was arrested Thursday by Westmoreland County Detectives and charged with raping a girl over the past eight years. Ronald Lee Rice, 59, was arraigned before Washington Township District Judge Jason Buczak on charges of rape, aggravated indecent assault on a person less than 13 years old and...

The Westmoreland County Coroner’s office reported a man who was shot and killed in his Greensburg home Tuesday took his own life. Deputy Coroner John Ackerman said the death was ruled a suicide following an investigation by the coroner’s office and city police. An autopsy was performed Wednesday by forensic...

A Fayette County man already charged in connection with one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations in the region’s history was ordered held in the Westmoreland County Prison without bail Wednesday after, police say, he tried to break into a Greensburg apartment. Tyler M. Benefield, 34, of Connellsville was arrested...

An autopsy was performed Wednesday on the body of a Greensburg man who was shot and killed a day earlier inside his home, but investigators still refuse to identify him or provide details of the investigation. The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office confirmed that forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht conducted...

A 16-year-old student is accused of setting a paper towel on fire last month in a boys locker room at Greensburg Central Catholic High School. He faces arson and related charges, according to state police. State police fire marshal Trooper Seth Helman said a month-long investigation determined that the teenager...

Workers with the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office removed a body from a Greensburg home Tuesday after a reported shooting that investigators said involved the death of a man. The identity of the deceased was not available. After the body was removed at 5:50 p.m. from the Menoher Way residence, Coroner...

Police this month twice arrested a Penn Township man within three hours on suspicion of driving under the influence of a controlled substance and careless driving. Officers charged Cody James Winslow, 21, in connection with both incidents, which occurred at 2:48 a.m. and 5:12 a.m. May 15, according to Penn...

State police in Greensburg said tips from the public helped them identify a woman accused of keying a car outside Walmart in Unity in April during a dispute over a parking space. Lori Ann Hoak, 44, of Latrobe, has been charged by state police with criminal mischief before Unity District...

State police at Belle Vernon on Friday filed charges against a Fayette County woman for the alleged abuse of a 1-year-old boy. Paige M. Petrucci, 22, of LaBelle in Luzerne Township, was arrested following a five-month investigation by state police and the Fayette County Children and Youth Services. The investigation...