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Two New Castle men arrested; face various drug, sex charges

The men were arrested after an adult victim reported them to police.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Two city men faced testimony Wednesday that they let youths, some as young as 12, drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at their home.

Three of the children and an adult also testified they endured sexual and indecent assaults at the Wallace Avenue home of Daniel Joseph Donnelly, 51, and Michael Christopher Washington, 44. Donnelly is in the Lawrence County Jail on bonds totaling $105,000. Washington is also in jail on bonds totalling $125,000.

Most of the children said they’d known the men for about a year, visiting frequently to “hang out” with one another. The group included about eight friends. Donnelly is a relative of one of the teens.

New Castle police arrested the men Feb. 6. Donnelly is charged with aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors involving a 15-year-old girl. That girl testified at a preliminary hearing in Lawrence County Central Court that one night this winter, she’d smoked marijuana and fell asleep in Donnelly’s bedroom, awakening later to discover him sexually assaulting her.

Donnelly is also charged with indecent assault on a person less than 13 and corruption of minors. Those charges involve a 12-year-old boy, who testified Donnelly fondled and massaged his feet, taking videos of the massages and of his feet. The boy testified the fondlings happened “four or five times.”

Donnelly’s attorney, Joe Kearney, argued that the activity did not constitute an assault. Assistant District Attorney Kate Fee-Baird argued that because the activity was videotaped and because police found pornographic tapes in Donnelly’s room featuring foot fetishism, the charge should be upheld. District Magistrate David Rishel upheld it.

Rishel dismissed a charge of selling and furnishing liquor to minors in the case of a 12-year-old boy, who testified it was actually Washington who let him drink, while Donnelly smoked marijuana with him.

Two counts of corruption of minors and selling/furnishing to minors were upheld in a case involving a 16-year-old girl. Donnelly’s cases were transferred to the Lawrence County Common Pleas court, where he will plead or be tried.

Washington is charged with rape, statutory sexual assault, unlawful restraint, corruption of minors and selling/furnishing liquor to minors in a case involving the same 15-year-old girl.

She testified that she was alone with Washington in his bedroom, either in the fall or winter, and he started pressuring her to have sex.

“I said ‘no,’ and he said, ‘I am,’ and he had sex with me, and he said, ‘Don’t tell nobody,’” she said. The girl said she was not free to leave, because Washington had her arms pinned.

Washington also faces charges of rape of an unconscious victim, sexual assault and false imprisonment in a case involving a 36-year-old woman, who said she’d accompanied her 16-year-old daughter to the Wallace Street house for a Halloween party.

She said she got drunk, passed out and doesn’t remember anything else until the next morning, when she awoke “four feet away from my daughter in [Washington’s] room, with my pants and underwear off.” She said she asked him why her clothes were off, and when he wouldn’t tell her, she gave him “two days to give me an answer.”

Washington wrote her a letter, which was entered into exhibits. In it he admitted he’d had sex with her while she was unconscious.

She said that after she got the letter, she went to the Wallace Street house to learn the teens’ names and collect their belongings, because she intended to report what had been going on there to police. She reported the two men to police Feb. 2.

Washington is also charged with attempted statutory sexual assault, indecent assault on a person less than 16, corruption of minors and selling/furnishing involving a 13-year-old girl.

She testified that she stayed at the house for three days in January, and he tried “every day” to either kiss her or pull her pants down or her shirt up. “He kept saying he would have sex with me. Everyone told him I was 13. He said he didn’t care.”

Washington also faces corruption and furnishing charges involving a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy. His cases were held for Common Pleas court.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/feb/19/two-new-castle-men-arrested-face-various-drug/

Party House Allegations Lead to Sex Crimes Case

February 18, 2009

NEW CASTLE, Lawrence County-- Two Lawrence County men will face charges alleging they ran a party house near New Castle High School where they gave kids drugs and alcohol and had sex with them.

Daniel Donnelly and Michael Washington are accused of luring boys and girls as young as 11 into a house two blocks away from the high school for more than a year. Police started investigating after one of the victims came forward reporting she had been raped.

A district justice ordered Donnelly and Washington held for court. The charges include sexual assault and giving minors with drugs and alcohol. They both remain in the county jail pending bond.

http://media.www.wcn247.com/media/storage/paper1389/news/2009/02/15/CommunityNews/Party.House.Allegations.Lead.To.Sex.Crimes.Case-3638288.shtml

First Choice Federal Credit Union warns members of multiple scam methods

February 9, 2009

First Choice Federal Credit Union warns members of multiple scam methods

Shayna Marti

Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Community News


NEW CASTLE, Lawrence County--State police say a credit card scam in Lawrence County is now even more sophisticated as online theives target customers of the First Choice Federal Credit Union. Investigators say the scam artists are using a bogus message online, by text and on the phone.

On Friday, members of the credit union in New Castle received text messages telling them that a third party has accessed their account. The message advises members to go to a web site, which asks for personal account information.

CEO of First Choice Federal Credit Union Marilyn Wehr says the web site is a hoax and that members should disregard the message. The scam artists are using a phony web address is FirstChoiceFCU.net, whereas the credit union's real web address is FirstChoiceFCU.com.

"They had copied our web site, taken our logo, and everything on the site was fraudulent," Wehr said, "They had purchased the domain."

The FBI has now joined the investigation, and according to Wehr, the fake web site is based in Portugal.

With the help of the FBI, the credit union has now shut down the fake web site.

Members of the credit union are reminded to disregard any phone calls or text messages that ask for personal account information.

http://media.www.wcn247.com/media/storage/paper1389/news/2009/02/09/CommunityNews/Slick.Thieves.Continue.Credit.Union.Scam-3620260.shtml

Ex-parking head accused of stealing from Pa. city

(02-05) 12:00 PST New Castle, Pa. (AP) --

A former parking official in a financially troubled Pennsylvania city is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from parking meters.

Gary Stone Jr. was laid off last year as head of New Castle's parking authority. He was arraigned Thursday on theft charges.

County officials say the 33-year-old New Castle resident reported that the meters collected $342 for all of 2006 and 2007. When police took over the meter collections for the first time last year, they took in more than $54,000.

Stone's home telephone is unlisted and he has not returned a message left with relatives.

New Castle was declared financially distressed last year under a state law designed to help struggling communities. The declaration led to Stone's layoff.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/05/national/a120052S23.DTL

Two indicted in PA fraud allegations

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 12:56PM

In the following press release (page 3) Mary Beth Buchanan, United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced that a grand jury returned a one-count indictment charging Anthony J. Staph Jr., age 42, 132 Firestone Drive, New Castle, Pennsylvania 16105 with Bank Fraud. The indictment alleges that Staph participated in a Bank Fraud Scheme involving Affordable Housing of Lawrence County, Inc. and First Commonwealth Bank.

It is alleged that participants in the bank fraud scheme arranged for Affordable Housing of Lawrence County to purchase seven properties at prices in excess of their fair market values, and that Affordable Housing of Lawrence County applied for a loan from First Commonwealth Bank to purchase the properties.

It is further alleged that Staph prepared fraudulent appraisals of the seven properties that were to serve as collateral for Affordable Housing of Lawrence County’s loan from First Commonwealth Bank. It is alleged that the appraisals were fraudulent in that they overstated the fair market value of the properties, misrepresented the condition of the properties, and falsely represented that the properties were occupied.

In a separate but related charge, the United States Attorney filed a one-count Information charging Gary F. Felasco, Jr., age 41, of Warren, Pennsylvania with willfully failing to file his 2005 income tax returns.

http://www.mortgagefraud.org/journal/2009/2/4/two-indicted-in-pa-fraud-allegations.html