Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 111
New Westmoreland sheriff’s office solicitor will not get cut of property sales
The new part-time solicitor for the Westmoreland County Sheriff’s office will have a higher salary than his predecessor but still earn about $25,000 per year less under a restructuring approved Thursday. The county’s salary board, which includes all three commissioners and Controller Jeffrey Balzer, voted to increase the salary for...
Big plans for Westmoreland outlined at annual State of County luncheon
After a public squabble at their first voting meeting of the year, Westmoreland County commissioners got together for lunch Thursday to outline an ambitious agenda for 2020 that includes revitalizing the Mon Valley, potentially adding more flights to and from Arnold Palmer Regional Airport and increasing internet capability. Commissioners Sean...
Board appointment prompts Westmoreland commissioners’ first dust-up
Westmoreland County Commissioners Sean Kertes and Gina Cerilli on Thursday appointed a new member to the county’s housing authority board of directors, a move that resulted in the first disagreement among the county leaders. Commissioner Doug Chew voted against the appointment of former Monessen District Judge Joseph Dalfonso to serve...
Westmoreland sheriff doesn’t want investigation into office mess
Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert said he doesn’t want an investigation into who trashed his offices in the courthouse. “Let’s not prolong this. I want to stay positive and move forward,” Albert said Thursday after the offices were cleaned. Three deputies and two maintenance workers, Albert said, spent two full...
Unity woman gets probation in animal cruelty case
A Unity woman was ordered Wednesday to serve a year on probation for animal cruelty after leaving her pets alone in filthy conditions after she was evicted from her Cook Township home. Patricia Canton, 52, was permitted to enroll in the Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition program for first-time, nonviolent offenders. The...
North Huntingdon man accused of assaulting daughter gets probation
A North Huntingdon man was ordered this week to serve one year of probation for an assault against his 11-year-old daughter. Samuel Farrier, 46, following a two-day jury trial in October, was found guilty of one misdemeanor count of simple assault in connection with an altercation with his children and...
Trial delayed for Greensburg man charged in Vandergrift woman’s death
The trial for a Greensburg man charged with the beating and strangulation death of a Vandergrift woman two years ago will begin in April. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger on Tuesday granted a defense request to delay the trial for Walter W. Cable by two months. The...
Greensburg man sentenced for Hempfield police chase
A Greensburg man pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault of a police officer following a car chase last year. William J. Binnall, 39, was trying to avoid arrest after police stopped his vehicle near Locust Valley Drive in Hempfield on May 22 because of an expired registration. Police said Binnall,...
Former Penn Township man sentenced on child porn charges
A former Penn Township man will serve at least nine months in jail after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession of child pornography. Prosecutors said 22 images of child pornography were found on computers owned by Raymond Patrick Younger, 40, now of Blacklick, Indiana County. The images were of children,...
March 17 special election set to fill Justin Walsh’s former state House seat
A special election will be held March 17 to fill the remaining term of former state Rep. Justin Walsh, and it could require Westmoreland County to borrow money to pay for the early balloting, officials said. Walsh, a Republican, resigned at the end of December after serving a year of...
Jeannette woman gets 15 to 30 years in prison for boyfriend’s death
A Jeannette woman convicted last year in the fatal bludgeoning of her teen-aged boyfriend insisted in court on Monday she did not intend for him to die. Crystal Belle, 40, said during her sentencing hearing she cared deeply for her 19-year-old boyfriend, Khalil Parker, even as she used the wooden...
New Westmoreland County commissioners say they’ll reopen the county’s budgetVideo
Westmoreland County commissioners Monday afternoon elected Republican Sean Kertes to serve as the new board chairman. Kertes, 33, of Greensburg, and Commissioner Doug Chew formed a new Republican majority on the board, which for the previous four years had been controlled by Democrats. The board’s lone returning member, Commissioner Gina...
New Westmoreland County sheriff finds offices trashed
Newly installed Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert found a surprise when he arrived at work Monday morning. Stacks of boxes filled with old arrest warrants blocked the door to his administrative suite of offices, trash was strewn on floors and desks, and the former sheriff’s dirty uniforms were piled beneath...
Westmoreland courthouse reopens after bomb threat
A bomb threat closed the Westmoreland County courthouse for nearly three hours Monday, the first day for new administration in the commissioner’s office and sheriff’s department. The Greensburg courthouse was evacuated after a threat was received shortly after 9 a.m., Sheriff Jim Albert said. Explosive-sniffing dogs from police agencies in...
New Westmoreland County leaders take over commissioners’, sheriff’s offices
Westmoreland County’s new government will be unveiled Monday when Republicans Sean Kertes and Doug Chew take over the majority on the board of commissioners and Democrat James Albert assumes control of the sheriff’s office. Monday marks the first official day on the job for the newly elected officials, and, as...
Fayette County man released from jail after his sentence is reduced
A Fayette County man was paroled Friday after being resentenced to serve a shorter jail term for his role in the thefts of construction equipment and building materials during a month-long crime spree in 2016 throughout Westmoreland County. David F. Wray, 48, of Fayette City, pleaded guilty in 2018 to...
Judge: Greensburg dad to stand trial for allegedly leaving kids in deplorable home
A Westmoreland County judge on Friday rejected a defense request to dismiss child endangerment charges against a Greensburg man suspected of leaving three children home alone for about a week in deplorable conditions. Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani ruled prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to support the charges against Ryan...
Former Vandergrift cop gets probation in retribution scheme
A former Vandergrift police officer was sentenced Thursday to serve two years of probation for attempting to coerce a local couple to participate in a retribution scheme against his supervisor. Jared Edward Kepple, 28, of Hyde Park pleaded guilty in October to one misdemeanor count of official oppression in connection...
Westmoreland Transit buses run normally after county operations takeover
Lisa Snow drove the Westmoreland County Transit Authority’s 4F bus to and from Pittsburgh on Thursday, the same route she’s operated over the past few years. There were no differences in how and where the bus traveled, but for Snow and her passengers, it was the start of a new...
Westmoreland commissioners reacquire oversight of real estate program
Westmoreland County Commissioners reclaimed control of a real estate program that generates as much as $2 million annually. Commissioners last week voted to transfer the Unified Parcel Identifier department back to their control, stripping it from oversight responsibilities of incoming Recorder of Deeds Frank Schiefer. “It makes sense for the...
Westmoreland County court fees to increase in 2020
The new year will ring in higher court costs for criminal defendants in Westmoreland County. Eight different fees will be increased by about 2% when the courthouse opens for business on Jan. 2, Clerk of Courts Bryan Kline said. “I have the authority to raise fees every three years and,...
Westmoreland County election winners sworn into officeVideo
Months of campaigning and election-night nerves were a thing of past on Thursday as Westmoreland County’s new slate of government officials were sworn into office. The former candidates and now newly elected officials, with family members and supporters by their sides, one-by-one came before the county’s Common Pleas Court judges...
Judge denies Yakopec’s request for transfer back to Westmoreland prison
A Westmoreland County judge Tuesday rejected a request from the son of a Lower Burrell district judge to be transferred back to the county’s jail to finish serving out a six-month sentence for drug offenses. The attorney for Stephen Yakopec III, 29, of Lower Burrell in court documents filed this...
13 Latrobe area churches band together to serve free Christmas meals to all who need themVideo
Anna Louise Castellano spent Christmas Day with her extended family. It’s a family that included many folks she didn’t even know but who gathered together Wednesday afternoon for a Christmas meal at St. John the Evangelist Church in Latrobe, in what has become a local tradition. “This is for anybody...
Police: Woman shot in Duquesne drive-by
Allegheny County Police are investigating the drive-by shooting of a 32-year-old woman in Duquesne. Police said Wednesday morning the woman was struck by a bullet. They said the wounds aren’t life-threatening. Police said it was not immediately clear whether the victim was specifically targeted. Authorities said the shooter was in...
