Justin Vellucci stories, Page 30
Moon Area parents call for reinstatement of assistant gymnastics coachVideo
Dozens of parents and student-athletes who attended Monday night’s Moon Area School Board meeting called for the reinstatement of an assistant gymnastics coach and accused one board member of pursuing a “vendetta” against the gymnastics program. Nick Price, the former assistant coach, was let go in April after former Moon...
Sharpsburg man in jail, charged with raping 16-year-old girl
A Sharpsburg man is accused of raping a 16-year-old in a borough apartment building over the weekend. Allegheny County Police charged Quentin Allen-Rue, 31, with rape, corruption of minors, sexual assault, indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor and aggravated indecent assault, court records show. Allen-Rue was arrested Sunday and...
Sheriff’s office arrests fugitive in Wilkinsburg, authorities say
Detectives from the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office on Friday arrested a Wilkinsburg man who they said was wanted on multiple warrants. Michael Lyons, 32, had been a fugitive since November 2022, when Common Pleas Judge Edward Borkowski issued a bench warrant for Lyons for violating terms of his 10-year probation,...
North Side man sexually assaulted 7-year-old girl, police say
A North Side man is accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl. Pittsburgh police charged Robert James Crable, 67, of Perry South, with unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of a child, court records show. Crable was arraigned...
Downtown panhandler arrested for trying to throw woman onto Parkway East, police say
A Downtown panhandler tried to throw a woman off a bridge over the Parkway East on Wednesday night, police said. A criminal complaint filed against Jonathan Boyle, 42, said he was panhandling near Fort Pitt Boulevard and Smithfield Street around 7:40 p.m. when he attacked the woman and tried to...
Deputy had cocaine in system when responding to Garfield standoff, sheriff says
Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin M. Kraus said Tuesday that he fired a deputy who tested positive for cocaine just after responding to the six-hour standoff in Garfield that ended with the gunman’s death. The deputy, a seven-year veteran who Kraus declined to name, was one of 13 officers tested by...
Altoona woman chases fame after Pittsburgh porta-potty fight video goes viral
Don’t call her Dalanie. Call her Romper Stomper. An Altoona-bred college student is cashing in on her 15 minutes of fame after a viral video from country star Morgan Wallen’s Aug. 31 performance at PNC Park showed her violently defending her mother at the concert’s porta-potties. Dozens of clips of...
Swissvale woman accused of having yearslong sexual relationship with teen boy
A Swissvale woman accused of maintaining a yearslong sexual relationship with a boy starting when he was 14 was arrested Friday, police said. Rachel Witkowski, 42, faces five counts of indecent assault, two counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corruption of minors, and one count each of statutory...
Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office warns of scam involving fake court papers, fake fines
People identifying themselves as sheriff’s deputies are using fake court paperwork to try to scam Pittsburghers out of money, the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday. “They are identifying themselves as sheriff’s office deputies and requesting that people pay a fine for ignoring a subpoena to appear as an expert...
Mt. Lebanon man charged in connection with November crash that killed tree-trimmer in Moon
Moon police have issued an arrest warrant for a Mt. Lebanon man who they say fatally struck a worker trimming trees near the Sewickley Bridge in November. Hampartsoum “Henry” Nazarian, 65, was charged Tuesday with homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and a half-dozen traffic violations in...
Wilkinsburg woman accused of stabbing 2 co-workers ordered to stand trial
A Wilkinsburg woman was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges she stabbed two co-workers, including one who police said accused her of stealing money from a woman with autism for whom they provided care. Unek Magwood, 27, faces charges including two counts each of attempted homicide and recklessly endangering...
Pittsburgh police investigating fatal shooting in Lincoln-Lemington
Pittsburgh police are investigating a shooting that left one man dead Saturday morning in the city’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood. Zone 5 police officers responded just after 9 a.m. to a home in the 1500 block of Westmoreland Avenue for “an unknown trouble call,” police spokeswoman Cara Cruz said Monday. Officers met...
‘We knew he wouldn’t leave peacefully,’ neighbor says of Garfield shooting suspect
Jackie Lane’s worst fears came true this week. The Garfield resident said she knew that Bill Hardison — killed after a tense, six-hour standoff that started Wednesday with an eviction notice — would not leave 4817 Broad St. quietly. Neighbors on Thursday said they had seen Hardison evade Allegheny County...
Like smoke alarms, natural gas alarms can ‘alert you to a potential problem’
Residents of a Plum neighborhood where a house explosion killed six people might soon have natural gas alarms installed in their homes. But these devices are not exclusive to Rustic Ridge. In the wake of explosions from eastern Pennsylvania to New York City and beyond, the use of natural gas...
Pittsburgh police issue charges in hit-and-run that killed 66-year-old pedestrian
Pittsburgh police issued an arrest warrant Tuesday in connection with an April 11 hit-and-run that killed a Pittsburgh pedestrian. Joseph Betha, 54, of Wilkinsburg has been charged with homicide by vehicle, accidents involving death, accidents involving death while not property licensed, and involuntary manslaughter, police spokesperson Cara Cruz said. It...
TSA confiscates 26th gun of year at Pittsburgh airport, matching last year’s total
An Indiana County man was stopped from carrying a handgun onto a Pittsburgh International Airport flight Monday, bringing the total number of firearms confiscated there since January to 26, matching 2022’s figure, officials said. Transportation Security Administration officers detected the .380 caliber gun in the man’s backpack, TSA spokesperson Lisa...
Another tiki boat captain saves person from drowning in Pittsburgh river
A tiki boat captain saved a woman from drowning in the Monongahela River near Point State Park on Saturday, just one month after another tiki boat captain fished a drowning boy out of the Allegheny. Captain Robb Rusiewicz, who saved the unidentified woman shortly after 10 a.m., was modest in...
Pittsburgh police avert nightclub shooting during patrol
A group of quick-thinking Pittsburgh police officers thwarted a nightclub shooting Sunday at a Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar intersection. Two officers were on surveillance around 5 a.m. outside the nightclub known as Batcave, or just The Cave, near the intersection of Lincoln and Lemington avenues. They said that they spotted a man, later...
Allegheny County Jail corrections officer arrested in connection with inmate contraband
It started at summer’s peak with a fight in an Allegheny County Jail day-room and unraveled Friday into charges alleging a corrections officer helped plant drugs on an inmate. That officer, Scott Stawiarski, 31, of North Fayette, was charged Friday — and indefinitely suspended from his job without pay —...
Allegheny County Police seeking public’s help to find Munhall shooter
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man shot Friday morning in Munhall as Isaac Love. Love, 31, of Homestead, was pronounced dead at 9:29 a.m., the medical examiner said. Allegheny County Police said they responded to the 1800 block of McClure Street just before 8:30 a.m. after receiving...
Pittsburgh journalist sues Allegheny County over jail ‘gag order’ policies
A Pittsburgh journalist sued Allegheny County in federal court Thursday, claiming a county jail “gag order” violates jail staff’s First Amendment free-speech rights, as well as the press-freedom rights of journalists covering jail issues. The “gag order,” which actually is a combination of multiple county Bureau of Corrections policies, dictates...
Shaler police identify man found dead in Allegheny River
Shaler police said the man they found dead Thursday morning in the Allegheny River was a missing township resident suffering from dementia. Mark Massimiani, 60, was found in the river near the 31st Street Bridge by a rowing group, Shaler police Chief J. Sean Frank said. Massimiani, who was last...
Police identify 2 drivers killed in head-on crash in Butler County
State police have released the names of two drivers killed in a Butler County head-on crash Wednesday morning. Hayden Ernest, 19, was driving northbound on Oneida Valley Road in Oakland Township around 6:15 a.m. when he crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed head-on into a car driven by Jacqueline Rock,...
W.Va. man killed in Oakland hit-and-run ‘found the beauty in things,’ family recalls
James Jerry “J.J.” Vas-Patterson wasn’t born into an easy life. After his father died unexpectedly on Sept. 7, 2010, when Vas-Patterson was just 10 years old, he and his younger brothers entered foster care, family members said Wednesday. Later, he added Patterson to his last name after being adopted by...
4 injured in Butler County crash
Four people were hospitalized in Butler County early Wednesday when state police said a woman drove her SUV into oncoming traffic and overturned the vehicle, causing a second driver to swerve into an embankment to avoid her. Sara Brown, 20, of Butler, was driving southbound on Oneida Valley Road near...
