Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 3
Repeated drug deals nets Trafford man prison sentence
A Trafford man who police claimed sold drugs to an undercover officer on multiple occasions was ordered to serve up to 12 years in prison. Vondae Duane Freeman, 40, pleaded guilty in November to three felony counts including one weapons offense and two drug charges in connection with what state...
4th person sentenced in Westmoreland catalytic converter theft ring
The last of four people charged with operating a catalytic converter theft ring throughout Westmoreland County in 2022 was ordered to serve at least 21 months in prison. Vince Lamar Skillings, 48, of Derry pleaded guilty last February to theft and two additional felony counts in connection with his role...
Westmoreland Hospital, former nurses sued again for alleged mistreatment of patients
A third lawsuit has been filed against a Westmoreland County hospital and four former staffers accused of mistreating patients. According to court documents, the alleged incidents occurred over five days in late June 2024 after Shirley Stouffer of Hempfield was admitted to Independence Health’s Westmoreland Hospital with heart issues and...
Plan for proposed Westmoreland convention center stalls
Progress on a proposed Westmoreland convention center pitched by the county’s chamber of commerce appears to have stalled. Chamber President Dan DeBone confirmed funding remains the major sticking point, preventing forward movement on what is estimated to be an $86 million project in Hempfield. Last August, the chamber released results...
Ohio woman pleads guilty to theft, forgery scheme at Murrysville, Irwin banks
An Ohio woman charged last summer in an identity theft and forgery scheme at banks in Murrysville and Irwin was paroled last week after pleading guilty to her role in what authorities described as a multi-state operation. Jennifer C. Folzenlogin, 63, of Cincinnati, was arrested last July following a regional...
Westmoreland public safety director retires, commissioners promote top deputyVideo
Roland “Bud” Mertz provided a steady hand as the world plunged into pandemic-fueled panic in early 2020. Mertz, as head of Westmoreland County’s Department of Public Safety, took control over the local response in the early days of the virus’ outbreak. Throughout the next year, he served as the point...
Paper ballots OK’d for Westmoreland voters at $18K price tag
Westmoreland County voters will again be able to cast paper ballots at the polls during this year’s primary and general elections. Republican commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew on Thursday approved a contract with an estimated price tag of $18,275 to supply paper ballots at each of the county’s 306...
Westmoreland commissioner calls sheriff’s partnership with ICE invalid
An agreement signed last year by Sheriff James Albert that allows his deputies to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is invalid and cannot be enforced, a Westmoreland County commissioner said Thursday. “Did the sheriff have the authority to do this unilaterally? The (answer) is unequivocally no. He did...
Verdict: Thomas Stanko guilty in murder of Cassandra GrossVideo
Kathe Gross let out a fist pump and a cheer in a Westmoreland County courtroom Wednesday as a jury convicted Thomas G. Stanko of first-degree murder in the 2018 disappearance of her daughter, Cassandra Gross. The verdict, delivered after four hours of deliberation, concludes a nearly eight-year legal saga for...
Lancaster man pleads guilty for shooting truck at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
A Lancaster County man was sentenced this week to serve up to five years in prison for a 2024 shooting at a truck as it left Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe. Tyler J. Mieczkowski, 24, pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony counts of aggravated assault and fleeing from police in...
Live updates: Jury returning to courtroom in Stanko trial
The jury in the Thomas G. Stanko homicide trial is returning to the courtroom now after about four hours of deliberations. Westmoreland County Judge Michael Stewart delivered final instructions to the jurors this morning before they moved to private deliberations just after noon. The panel is considering charges of first-degree...
Hempfield man sentenced in murder-for-hire plot against sister
A Hempfield man was sentenced Tuesday to serve at least eight years in prison for an attempt to have his sister killed in what prosecutors said was a scheme to secure their mother’s estate for himself. Peter John Cute, 65, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to solicitation to commit murder....
Stanko testifies, says another person responsible for Gross’ disappearance
Thomas G. Stanko took the witness stand Tuesday and disavowed any role in the disappearance or murder of his former girlfriend, Cassandra Gross. During more than three hours of testimony in Westmoreland County court, he attempted to place blame for her fate on another man and repeatedly offered to take...
Jail informants testify Stanko admitted to killing Cassandra Gross
Two jailhouse informants testified in Westmoreland County court Monday that, while they were incarcerated together, Thomas G. Stanko confessed to the 2018 killing of Cassandra Gross. The alleged jailhouse confessions highlighted the sixth day of Stanko’s homicide trial. Stanko, 55, is charged with criminal homicide and reckless burning in connection...
Jury hears evidence of burned belongings, power of attorney in Thomas Stanko murder trial
As the investigation into the disappearance of Cassandra Gross closed in on a suspect, the man eventually charged in her killing started to prepare for his potential arrest, according to evidence presented during the fifth day in the murder trial of Thomas G. Stanko. Stanko, 55, of Unity, is on...
Prosecutors reveal last images of Cassandra Gross, attempt to link boyfriend to her killing
An image of Cassandra Gross in a black-and-white-striped sweater with a bag of work documents under her arm marks the last time she was seen alive, her high school friend testified Thursday. Westmoreland County prosecutors contend Thomas G. Stanko, 55, of Unity killed Gross, 51, after she was to meet...
Thomas Stanko trial: Cassandra Gross’ mother testifies about possessive relationship
Kathe Gross took an immediate dislike to the man her daughter, Cassandra Gross, was dating in 2017 and 2018. During the first day of testimony in the trial of the man charged with her daughter’s murder, Kathe Gross told a Westmoreland County jury Wednesday that she found Thomas G. Stanko...
Attorney claims jury erred in conviction of roommate in Penn Township shooting
A North Versailles woman claims a Westmoreland County jury reached the wrong verdict when it convicted her last year of the attempted murder of her Penn Township roommate. In an appeal filed this week, the lawyer for Leah Gillis said jurors failed to adequately consider testimony that suggested the gun...
Trial set for daughter, shooting suspect in St. Clair murder-for-hire case
Opening statements and testimony in the trial of a New Florence woman charged with ordering the murder of her mother, along with one of the two men alleged to have fired the fatal shots, are set to begin Monday, Feb. 9. The 12-person jury and four alternates who will hear...
Jurors in Thomas Stanko trial can hear evidence that Cassandra Gross was declared dead in 2019
In a key ruling Tuesday, a Westmoreland County judge decided that jurors in the Thomas G. Stanko criminal homicide trial may hear limited evidence that his former girlfriend, Cassandra Gross, was legally declared dead in 2019. Following a hearing, Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Stewart II ruled details of the...
Guilty plea appealed again in Jeannette football stadium shooting
A Jeannette man serving a 25-year prison sentence for the shooting death of a romantic rival has appealed his conviction. The incident occurred outside of Jeannette’s high school football stadium in 2019. Greg A. Harper, 46, unsuccessfully attempted last year to withdraw a guilty plea to third-degree murder. He entered...
Jury seated in Westmoreland County for trial of Thomas Stanko in 2018 death of Cassandra Gross
It took nearly eight years to bring Thomas G. Stanko to a courtroom in the death of Cassandra Gross, but it took only a single day to choose the 12 people who will decide his fate. Seven men and five women were seated Monday in Westmoreland County to serve as...
Jury selection set to begin for Thomas Stanko, charged in Unity woman’s deathVideo
Jury selection in the criminal homicide trial of a Unity man charged with killing his former girlfriend is scheduled to begin Monday morning in a Westmoreland County courtroom. Thomas G. Stanko, 55, was charged in 2022 with criminal homicide in connection with the disappearance of Cassandra Gross five years earlier....
Westmoreland judge weighs extension of decade-long stay for former LECOM student
A former medical student convicted nine years ago of sexually assaulting a Seton Hill University student is seeking to extend a nearly decade-long delay in his sentence. Jerry Chai’s attorney told a Westmoreland County judge Friday that the 2017 sentence violates his client’s constitutional rights. The defense argues that the...
Hempfield woman charged in husband’s shooting death pushes for speedy trial
The lawyer for a Hempfield woman accused in the October shooting death of her husband said he’s ready for a fast-tracked trial to begin in March. Leeann Steel, 51, has been in jail without bond since her arrest following what prosecutors said was the murder of her husband. William Steel,...
