Councilman Robert S. Forish, 58, and Fabian Giovannagelo, 65, were arraigned on charges of theft, theft by deception and misapplication of entrusted property in 2020. They are accused of using department funds to pay for a federal lawsuit filed against the fire company, Chief John Brasile, President Charles McDowell Jr., Latrobe Mayor Rosie Wolford and the city.
Giovannagelo co-signed checks totaling $21,000 for payment of legal fees related to the lawsuit, according to a complaint filed by Detective Randy Gardner.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — At least five people are facing federal charges for their involvement in a large cocaine ring that distributed drugs throughout the region, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court, Mikal Davis, James Dotson, Azheem Ellis, Dwight Logan and Timothy Mollet have been charged with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine.
Agents with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security were assisted by state and local law enforcement as they executed warrants at several locations throughout the city Thursday morning, according to WJAC.
Investigators say the quintet distributed the drugs in the Johnstown and Monroeville areas and beyond.
According to the complaint, agents and Task Force Officers used multiple confidential informants throughout the investigation.
The complaint says investigators recorded phone calls and made controlled buys from the defendants between June 3, 2019 and March 31, 2021.
Davis is described by the FBI as the co-leader of the organization, Dotson is described as the lieutenant and Ellis, Logan and Mollet are described as distributors.
Authorities say Hector Concepcion is also facing federal charges for distributing cocaine and heroin between August 12, 2019 and December 23, 2020.
PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh mother and a man are facing charges after doctors found cocaine in the system of a 6-week-old baby.
Lindsey Satterfield, 38, took her baby to a doctor’s appointment because he kept vomiting. The doctor determined he was a pound underweight from his last appointment.
Police searched the home of Satterfield and Matthew Bell, 43, along Woodbourne Avenue in Brookline.
Inside the home, police found loose pills, stamp bags of heroin, syringes, used crack pipes and scales, according to court documents.
During an interview with police, Bell said that while he and Satterfield used crack cocaine last week, the baby was sitting in his baby swing in the living room.
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He said both he and Satterfield touched the baby after touching the crack cocaine and the crack pipe, according to the criminal complaint.
Bell further said he assumed that is how the baby tested positive for cocaine. Both Satterfield and Bell were taken to the Allegheny County Jail. Both are facing several charges, including endangering the welfare of children and aggravated assault.
The baby was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent tests to determine the cause. It was during a regular urinalysis that cocaine was discovered in his system. The baby was admitted to the hospital.
Laura Barney, 32, charged with endangering the welfare of children and other offenses
Investigators said a caseworker from Allegheny County Children Youth and Families called them about children left home alone and, upon responding to the home on Marlow Street, the CYF worker said she saw four of the five children known that live in the house.
As the investigation continued, the CYF worker asked about the fifth child, a 12-year-old boy, and, according to the criminal complaint, was told he was in the basement.
A police officer checked the basement, finding conditions that were “objectively deplorable,” according to the criminal complaint, including puddles, basement rooms smelling of filth and gnats.
The 12-year-old boy was not found.
Police said the CYF caseworker made contact with Barney a short time later and, upon telling her that CYF would take steps including taking custody of the children, Barney allegedly stated, “Do what you gotta do” and allegedly threatened to cut the caseworker when she arrived at the home.
Upon her arrival, Barney was taken into custody.
Police said Barney said she had gone to a nail salon and claimed the 12-year-old was supposed to be watching the other children.
Almost the entire Munn family — the father, the mother and three of their children — are accused of illegally breaching the Capitol through a broken window.
Among the more than 500 people arrested so far in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, there have been several married couples and any number of parent-and-children teams. There have even been sets of siblings charged.
On Tuesday, however, in what seemed to be the first move of its kind, the Justice Department unsealed a complaint against almost the entire Munn family of Texas, accusing the father, the mother and three of their children of illegally breaching the Capitol through a broken window.
A Pittsburgh man pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges related to a string of armed robberies that police and the FBI said he carried out with three accomplices across the city and the eastern suburbs in 2018 and 2019.
True Kinnon, 22, pleaded to conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery and brandishing a gun during a violent crime.
Kinnon admitted that he and his cohorts committed seven armed robberies in Allegheny County from November 2018 through February 2019. The group hit convenience stores in Pittsburgh, Penn Hills, Turtle Creek, Oakmont and Monroeville. During some of the heists, Kinnon and the others brandished guns, including an assault-style rifle and a revolver, and threatened employees and customers with the weapons while stealing money and property.
Kinnon and the others were all indicted federally under the Hobbs Act, which prohibits robbery or extortion affecting interstate commerce.
Prosecutors said Kinnon and Jaron Davis, of Penn Hills, robbed a customer at the Home Goods store on Mall Boulevard in Monroeville while attempting to rob the store on Dec. 17, 2018. The next day, Kinnon and Davis robbed a CoGo’s on East Carson Street. On Jan. 30, 2019, Kinnon robbed a CoGo’s on Brownsville Road, prosecutors said, along with Rudolph McBride, of Penn Hills, and Wayne Edwards, of Monroeville.
Authorities arrested a suspect Thursday evening in the July 3 triple homicide at the Pinetree Country Club in Georgia, in which golf pro Gene Siller was killed.
Around 6:45 Monday morning, Kittanning’s Assistant Fire Chief Mike Schwartz said a neighbor started pounding on his door to alert him to one of the fires.
“When I come out the back door, and come down the alley, I confirmed the fire and nobody had been dispatched yet so I called 911,” he said while investigating.
Fire crews believe the four fires were not an accident.
“I think somebody had walked through. Probably had some intention and made a round,” Assistant Chief Schwartz said.
Police said garbage and debris were set on fire at two homes on Woodward Avenue and Hawthorne Avenue.
PITTSBURGH — A man was taken into custody after a SWAT incident which started Sunday, according to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, after he allegedly broke out windows and threw items into the street.
It happened just before 10:45 p.m. on Middle Street in the Central North Side neighborhood.
Officers tried unsuccessfully to make contact with the man, who appeared to barricade himself on the third floor.
SWAT was called and eventually went into the home and took the man into custody.
WAKEFIELD, Massachusetts — An hourslong standoff with a group of heavily armed men that partially shut down Interstate 95 ended Saturday with 11 suspects in custody, Massachusetts state police said.
Police initially reported nine suspects were taken into custody, but two more were taken into custody in their vehicle later Saturday morning.
Two suspects were hospitalized, but police said it was for preexisting conditions that had nothing to do with the standoff.
Three civilians reportedly suffered serious injuries when a Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad truck exploded during the detonation of 5,000 pounds of illegal fireworks.
Police arrested an Uber driver accused of fatally shooting one passenger and wounding a second early Wednesday in Atlanta, according to authorities.
Nigel Nembhard, 36, was in custody at the Fulton County Jail on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault, the Atlanta Police Department said Thursday morning in a statement.
A spokesperson for Uber confirmed Nembhard was a driver for the company.
“What police are reporting is deeply concerning,” the rideshare service said Thursday afternoon in a statement. “We’ve banned the driver from the app and will work with law enforcement on their investigation.”
Uber has a no firearms policy, according to the company.
The man killed in the shooting was identified as 34-year-old Kevin Leonard Fulton, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office. Although an autopsy had not yet been performed on him Thursday afternoon, Fulton was shot in the torso, the office said.
The shooting, which occurred shortly before 5 a.m. ET at a Chevron gas station, followed a dispute inside the vehicle between the two male victims and the driver, according to police.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and social justice activist the Rev. William Barber were arrested Wednesday during protests to urge Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to end the filibuster and pass a sweeping voting rights bill, according to CNN.
Jackson, a civil rights icon, and Barber, a social justice activist, were two of 21 people overall who were arrested this week near the U.S. Supreme Court for obstructing and crowding, according to the network.
Barber participated in the “Moral March on Manchin and McConnell” rally with the nonprofit organization group the Poor People’s Campaign at the steps of the Supreme Court. The demonstration aimed to put pressure on Manchin and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to end the filibuster.
A 16-year-old boy was shot Sunday outside a Greensburg apartment complex, and police arrested two people Monday, according to Capt. Shawn Denning.
Three people — Issac C. Morton, 20, of Greensburg, a woman and her brother — were walking into an apartment building when Jaron Malik Haten-McCoy, 17, of Greensburg and the 16-year-old boy got out of a car in the parking lot and confronted them, police said. Morton’s group went into the building when the woman told authorities Haten-McCoy shot at them, according to court papers.
Morton and the woman returned fire and called 911. Police said an entrance door at one of the buildings had numerous bullet marks on both sides.
Jason Pirl, 40, accused of taking money for projects and not completing the work
The contractor, Jason Pirl of Proline Painting, is now facing charges accused of taking money from multiple victims across two counties without doing the work.
Police said detectives from the Violent Crime Unit took Chayla Robinson into custody at her home in Brentwood Borough. She was charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution following the shooting death of 18-year-old Ahmir Tuli.
By WPXI.com News Staff and Michele Newell, WPXI-TV
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police made an arrest in connection with a large fight and shooting outside of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Thursday night.
Two people were shot outside the hospital after the fight, authorities said.
A officer with the Chicago Police Department was arrested and charged Friday for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, according to the city’s police chief.
Karol J. Chwiesiuk, a 29-year-old officer with the Chicago Police Department, was arrested by FBI and CPD officers around 8 a.m. local time and charged with five misdemeanors Friday afternoon, including knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building and violent entry or disorderly conduct at the Capitol, according to Chicago Police Superintendent David O. Brown.
Brown said Chwiesiuk was relieved of his police powers on June 2, as soon as federal authorities informed the department of their investigation.
(CNN)A Florida man faces aggravated child abuse and other charges after hurling his infant at a deputy near the end of a high-speed chase, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office said.
The 32-year-old suspect is seen being tackled by law enforcement as a deputy cradles a baby in a sky-blue outfit, according to video released this week by the sheriff’s office.
Deputy Jacob Curby told CNN affiliate WPEC the suspect — who law enforcement identified as John Henry James III — left his car carrying his baby after the pursuit the evening of May 26 and “just turned around, no regard, not a little toss” and “overhand threw this two-month-old at me from about six feet away.”
Curby caught thebaby, who was unhurt, the station reported. The sheriff’s office said deputies were “able to relocate the baby to safety.”
A suspected psychedelic mushroom grow operation was discovered in a Rostraver home Thursday while police said they were investigating threats made by the property owner, according to court papers.
Authorities arrested Michael Jonathan McClain, 45, who is being held without bond at the Westmoreland County Prison.
FAIRVIEW, Pa. — A Pittsburgh woman is facing attempted homicide and assault charges after police said that she shot at four women who attacked her.
The incident happened on May 19, 2021, at approximately 5:35 p.m.
Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert on Belleau Drive in Fineview. When they arrived at the scene, they spoke with women who said they were shot at while driving.
Officers learned from video surveillance that Quayona Wilson, 25, of Pittsburgh, was walking down Belleau Drive and stopping at a car to take children out of it. When the car left, a brown Hyundai Tucson drove down the street and stopped in front of Wilson.
Four women then got out of the car and ran toward Wilson to attack her, according to a criminal complaint.
After kicking her head and body, they then run back to the car. Wilson got up off the ground and slammed her hand into the window of the car as it drove away.
Police said that Wilson then took a gun and fired multiple shots at the car. The driver of the car then backed the car up, turned it around and headed straight for Wilson.
She tried to move out of the way, but her right leg got ran over.
The car then drove on the sidewalk as another woman was shooting at it. When the driver passed by Wilson while leaving the area, Wilson fired additional rounds at them.
It’s unclear at this time if anyone else will be charged.
The Steubenville Police Department is investigating a shots fired incident along Market Street. It happened at Heritage Place Apartments early Friday morning. According to the police report, the suspect, Savion M. Johnson, of Chicago, was at an apartment there with a woman he accused of stealing his AirPods. She said she didn’t have them, but he threatened to shoot her windows out. He left and then allegedly returned to make good on that threat.
PITTSBURGH — Streets in downtown Pittsburgh reopened Wednesday afternoon after a bank robbery investigation.
A suspect walked into the PNC Bank on Fifth Avenue around noon with a note, and left the building.
When officers arrived, they found the suspect outside, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Washington Place with a backpack.
The suspect was taken into custody.
Officers evacuated the bank and surrounding buildings as a precaution.
The Pittsburgh Police Bomb Squad, and K-9 were called in and conducted a sweep of the area.
***BREAKING*** Police sources say one person is in custody after an incident at a PNC Bank on Fifth Avenue. Bomb squad on scene sifting through suspicious bag and sweeping the area right now. Street Closed between Washington Place and Centre to Fifth Avenue and center. #wpxi pic.twitter.com/hjo6h2oTnw— Joe Arena (@WPXIJoe) May 26, 2021
It was determined that there was no threat inside the backpack or in the area.
A man who was wanted following a high-speed chase in Penn Hills has been arrested more than two weeks later in Homestead.
Mark Clements, 19, was taken into custody after police responded to an accident involving a vehicle he was in in Homestead.
Police said Clements lied twice about his identity, including claiming to be a 12-year-old boy, before admitting who he was.
A gun was also found in the car.
Earlier this month, Clements allegedly led police on a high-speed chase in Penn Hills that ended with a crash and then went missing after he was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital.
The chase began because the vehicle Clements was in was allegedly linked to the shooting of an 11-year-old child in the city of Pittsburgh.
No one has been charged in connection with the shooting of that child.
Clements is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.
A Southwest Airlines flight attendant had two of her teeth knocked out by a rowdy passenger over the weekend, according to a union leader.
San Diego Harbor Police on Tuesday identified the passenger as Vyvianna Quinonez, 28, and said she was charged with battery causing serious bodily injury, a felony, local outlets reported.
The flight attendant, who was not publicly identified, was treated at a hospital and later released. Southwest said it flew a friend to San Diego to be with her.
