Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 16
Greensburg church volunteers dish out, deliver hundreds of Christmas meals to those in need
Lisa Reynolds didn’t think twice when asked by a family friends to give up her Christmas morning make sure those in need had a holiday meal. Reynolds, of Bell Township, was among the dozens of volunteers at the First Presbyterian Church in Greensburg who cooked the food, packed boxes and...
Westmoreland DA doles out drug forfeiture cash for enforcement efforts
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli announced Friday that her office has allocated $82,700 to bolster education, training and enforcement of drug laws. Those funds were forfeited to the District Attorney’s Office as a result of criminal prosecutions of drug offenses. “By allocating this money back into the hands of...
Overwhelming demand for rental assistance exhausts Westmoreland County funds
Westmoreland County’s rental assistance program will stop accepting new applications to help low-income tenants pay monthly bills and housing costs, officials announced Monday. In November, the county said it would use about $80,000 in leftover funds and another $727,000 earned through bank interest over the past three years to resume...
Greensburg man sentenced to 16 to 32 years in prison for attack on former girlfriend
A Westmoreland County prosecutor said prison was the only way to ensure public safety from a Greensburg man convicted of a violent attack of a former girlfriend. Brian Curry, 36, was found guilty at trial in October for the strangulation, burglary, trespassing and other offenses in what prosecutors said was...
Ex Peking Garden employee admits to using hidden iPhone to record women in Hempfield restroom
A former employee was ordered to serve at least 18 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to using a hidden cellphone to record videos in the women’s restroom of Peking Garden in Hempfield. Victor Perez, 39, admitted to recording the videos for his personal pleasure, according to court papers....
Westmoreland County’s go-to man Greg McCloskey calls it a career
During the summer of 2021, Westmoreland County commissioners were in a bind. They had just fired the county’s election bureau director following what they said was ongoing mismanagement. The deputy director had been fired months earlier. So commissioners turned to longtime public works director Greg McCloskey to assume the election...
Westmoreland commissioners pass no tax hike budget, spar over county’s financial future
Westmoreland County’s Republican commissioners defended a 2025 budget that increased spending in several key categories and carries a more than $9 million deficit. The shortfall is being covered through a dwindling surplus fund bolstered by a 32.5% tax hike approved last year. The new budget maintains the current county property...
Youngwood man to serve probation, house arrest for drug sales in two fatal overdoses
A Youngwood man was ordered Wednesday to serve 10-years on probation for his role in two overdose deaths. Frank Bogley, 72, pleaded guilty in April to felony counts that included two charges of drug delivery resulting in death and related offenses in connection with Feb. 1, 2020, death of 39-year-old...
MAWC opens talks to buy, run Gilpin water and sewer systems
Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials will open negotiations to take over operations of a small water system in Gilpin, Armstrong County. Gilpin supervisors this week solicited an offer from the county authority to purchase or operate the township’s water and sewer systems service. On Wednesday, the authority said it...
Westmoreland Commissioners say overdue courthouse upgrades call for $2.2M generator purchase
A backup generator to keep the lights on during power outages at the Westmoreland County Courthouse will cost about $2.2 million. Commissioners are expected this week to approve a contract to purchase a new backup generator for the Greensburg courthouse complex. Officials say it’s needed to ensure continued operations at...
Westmoreland County to offer $1.5K to $2.5K incentives for each new broadband installation
Westmoreland County is offering cash to broadband providers to connect homes and businesses to high-speed internet. County leaders announced an incentive program in which broadband companies could receive between $1,500 to $2,500 for each new customer they connect as part of the federally funded Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program,...
Jailed Latrobe attorney’s law license suspended
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court this week formally issued a temporarily suspension order barring Latrobe attorney J. Allen Roth from practicing law. Roth, 70, has been in jail since early November when he was charged with theft and fraud in connection to accusations he stole $31,000 from a client’s bank account and...
Westmoreland juvenile detention center eyes expansion in 2025
Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center could double its capacity this spring, officials said Monday. Eight juveniles were housed at the Hempfield facility, filling every available bed. It reopened in March after a series of issues included staffing shortages and critical state inspections that prompted county officials to temporarily shut down...
New guards hired at Westmoreland jail as inmate population rises
Westmoreland County’s Prison Board on Monday approved the hiring of nine new corrections officers to ensure the facility remains fully staffed heading into 2025. Warden Steve Pelesky said the additional guards were needed to rebound from several resignations and retirements of staff in recent months. The facility employs more than...
Westmoreland Register of Wills Office rebounds from year of disarray
On a quiet Friday afternoon, Westmoreland County register of wills staffers worked as usual to process court filings and waited on customers. It was like any other day at the courthouse — but a far cry from the disorganization and disarray that plagued the court-filing office for more than a...
East Huntingdon man to serve up to 20 years in prison for sexual assault of child
A former custodian and janitor at the Mt. Pleasant Area School District will serve at least eight years in prison after being sentenced this week for repeated sexual assaults of a child over a 10-year period. Jeffrey D. Miller Jr., 50, of East Huntingdon was charged last year with eight...
MAWC says inventory finds 3% of water system has lead service lines
Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials said they suspect just 3% of its water system contains lead service lines and have started to notify impacted home and business owners of its findings. An inventory of the system’s more than 123,000 customers revealed more than 4,000 properties could be serviced by...
Westmoreland’s fired deputy purchasing director testifies courthouse boss initiated alleged theft scheme
Westmoreland County’s former deputy director of purchasing told a judge her boss said he and his five department employees were authorized for additional pay in August 2023. Kristen Coyne claimed she didn’t learn those pay hikes had actually been rejected by county officials until both she and her boss were...
New Kensington man sentenced in kidnapping case called ‘a single woman’s worst nightmare’
A New Kensington man convicted of kidnapping a woman he met online in 2022 was sentenced to serve five to 10 years in prison for what a Westmoreland County prosecutor called a chilling crime. “This defendant is more dangerous than anyone else I could imagine. The facts of this case,...
Lawyer says attempted murder charges against East Huntingdon man a result of police cover-up
The lawyer for an East Huntingdon man wounded in a shootout with police said Wednesday attempted murder charges filed against her client are nothing more than an attempt by officers to cover up what she called a botched investigation. Defense attorney Jill Devine said James R. Miller Jr., 62, rejected...
Sewickley Township man to serve jail sentence for vehicle assault
A Sewickley Township man who pleaded guilty last year to running a down a man outside a Hempfield townhouse three years ago was ordered Tuesday to serve at least seven months in jail. Bradley A. Cook, 24, in August 2023 pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault by vehicle...
Suspect pleads guilty in credit card skimmer scam set up in grocery stores
One of two men charged last summer in a multicounty fraud scheme that employed skimmer devices on grocery store card readers pleaded guilty Tuesday in Westmoreland County. Thomas Fuchs, 34, whose last address was listed as in Pittsburgh, was ordered to serve one to two years in prison for his...
Greensburg man sentenced to jail for decades-old sex crimes against children
A Greensburg man was ordered to serve nearly one year in jail after he pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted two young girls two decades earlier at multiple locations around Westmoreland County. Morton William Thomson Jr., 66, was charged in December 2022, more than 20 years after his...
Former teacher avoids jail for possession of child porn
A former Indiana County high school teacher who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography this fall avoided a jail term Monday. Charles Kirkland, 33, of Derry Township was ordered to serve 14 years on probation even as a Westmoreland County prosecutor argued that he should spend at least three...
Tourism grants awarded to Westmoreland businesses, attractions
Since Julia Taneja and her husband opened a luxury boutique hotel at a renovated coal baron mansion in Greensburg nearly two years ago, they’ve attracted visitors from throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. A $19,000 grant from revenue generated by Westmoreland County’s 5% hotel room tax will...
