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DeRosa arraignment moved again


New Castle News

Nicholas DeRosa’s arraignment in a mortgage fraud case has been moved a second time.

A federal grand jury indicted the retired New Castle school administrator on one count of bank fraud, two counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering conspiracy. The charges, announced July 14, are the result of an investigation involving Affordable Housing of Lawrence County and First Commonwealth Bank.

DeRosa was scheduled to appear in court this morning in downtown Pittsburgh. His new arraignment is set for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 1 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell.

A potential conflict of interest arose between DeRosa and his attorney, Efrem M. Grail of Reed Smith LLP in Pittsburgh. Grail is being considered for the appointment of U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

A replacement for current U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan has not been named.

In paperwork filed Aug. 27, Grail said DeRosa wishes to retain him as counsel.

Despite the government’s objection to Grail’s motion, U.S. Magistrate Amy Reynolds Hay approved the request.

http://www.ncnewsonline.com/local/local_story_243095825.html

Employee steals lottery tickets

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Cranberry convenience store owner Nasser Elyaderani said he had to get a home equity loan to stay in business following the theft of more than $70,000 in lottery tickets.

A former employee, David Gerbrosky, of Ellwood City, pleaded guilty to one count of theft and has been ordered to repay $69,472 to Mr. Elyaderani's business, Freedom Market, and $5,000 to the store's insurance carrier. The business is located at the intersection of Powell and Freedom roads in Cranberry.

Following his guilty plea in July, Mr. Gerbrosky was sentenced on Aug. 12 by Butler County Judge William Shaffer to 90 to 180 days in the county jail and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

As part of his plea agreement, however, he was granted parole. According to court records, he has made a $2,000 initial restitution payment.

Cranberry police brought charges in July 2008 after Mr. Elyaderani provided them with a security video showing Mr. Gerbrosky taking lottery tickets.

Mr. Elyaderani said he wanted to remind other convenience store operators and business owners about the importance of keeping personal control over inventory that can be converted easily into cash. "The loss pushed us to the brink of bankruptcy," he said.

An immigrant from Iran, Mr. Elyaderani has operated Freedom Market for about two years.

He also advised business owners to review their insurance policies. He had what he believed to be $65,000 worth of theft coverage, but he discovered after the incident that most of his loss -- resulting from theft by an employee -- was not covered.


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09239/993393-54.stm#ixzz0Prt9jiHY

Twice-convicted killer fought death sentence, gets life without parole

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A New Castle man who has spent more than two decades battling a death sentence for robbing and killing a man on the South Side will now spend the rest of his life in prison after a judge resentenced him yesterday.

Salvador Carlos Santiago, 46, was initially sentenced to death for the January 1985 slaying of Patrick Huber, a 23-year-old printer at Minuteman Press on East Carson Street. In the brutal killing, police said Mr. Santiago stole $16 from the store's cash register then forced Mr. Huber to kneel in the store's back room before shooting him once in the back of the head.

Just two days before Mr. Huber's slaying, Mr. Santiago shot and killed 20-year-old Dean K. O'Hara, who had stopped to help Mr. Santiago when the car Mr. Santiago was driving broke down on a highway outside of New Castle. Mr. Santiago was sentenced to life in prison for the killing and did not appeal that case.

The Huber case has spent the last 23 years winding its way through state and federal courts as Mr. Santiago exhausted every avenue of appeal, including unsuccessfully petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court in October 1995. At one point, in 1991, he was successful in getting the state to grant him a new trial. He was again convicted and sentenced to death in 1993.

On Sept. 22, 2004, Gov. Ed Rendell signed a death warrant for Mr. Santiago and his execution by lethal injection was scheduled for that November. But before he could be executed, Mr. Santiago filed a petition in federal court challenging both his conviction and sentencing on numerous grounds, including that his appointed attorneys were ineffective.

After spending the last five years of wrangling in federal court, Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Ronald Wabby and Mr. Santiago's public defender, Billy Nolas of the Federal Community Defender Office, signed an order that allowed for the death sentence to be vacated in exchange for Mr. Santiago agreeing not to pursue any more appeals.

The order, signed by both attorneys and issued by U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti in June, conceded Mr. Santiago's claim that he received ineffective counsel during the death penalty phase of his second trial and ordered that he be resentenced to life imprisonment. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning's resentencing yesterday came as a result of the order.

Mr. Wabby said he was not conceding that Mr. Santiago received ineffective counsel and called signing the agreement a means to an end.

"Looking at the background of the case, the interest of the victim, the interest of the commonwealth ... the resolution of these issues was the best for all the parties involved in this way," he said. "In order to get [Mr. Santiago] that type of relief, that's what we had to agree to."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09238/993251-54.stm

Brown's Lawyers Ask Judge To Throw Out Evidence

At a hearing Wednesday afternoon in Lawrence County, lawyers for an 11-year-old boy charged with killing his father's pregnant fiancée asked a judge to throw out much of the evidence against him.

"They don't have any evidence that actually puts Jordan Brown in the house at the time of the deaths," said Dennis Elisco, the defense attorney.

Brown is charged in the fatal shooting of his father's pregnant girlfriend, Kenzie Houk.

Police say the boy killed the 26-year-old inside the home that the family shared in Wampum, and then went to school.

"There's no evidence that his gun was discharged or it was the weapon. We've gotten nothing back that; there's no blood. The most recent discovery, there's no blood on the gun; there's no fingerprints detectable on his gun, the shotgun," said Elisco. "And we're still waiting, how many months later… we're waiting on ballistics."

The defense alleges a search warrant that state police used to gather evidence inside the family home was missing a signature. Therefore, it should be thrown out along with the statement that Brown made while at school to a trooper.

"My argument is two-fold," said Elisco. "One, that he was clearly in custody because he reasonable believed that he couldn't leave, as any fifth grader would have reasonably believed. And secondly, that the Commonwealth… intentionally prevented Chris Brown from being present during the interview."

As for the prosecution, they say they are legally sound on all of their grounds.

Meanwhile, the judge says he will rule on these matters within the next 30 days.

http://kdka.com/local/Jordan.Brown.hearing.2.1145991.html

Abandoned house torched — again

New Castle News

The New Castle Fire Department responded to another suspicious fire early yesterday.


A Lawrence County dispatcher said the blaze broke out at 4:43 a.m. at 826 Morton St., an abandoned house that was the site of another suspicious fire Aug. 12.

According to Assistant Chief Mark Panella, when city firefighters arrived, the door to the house was open and small fires were burning in each of the rooms on the first floor.

Firefighters said they detected an odor of gas.

It took little time to extinguish the fires, Panella noted.

“We got there early,” he said. “We were dispatched at a quarter to five and were out of there by a quarter after 5.”

According to Panella, the fire was reported by a next door neighbor who woke up and saw smoke.

http://www.ncnewsonline.com/local/local_story_236092105.html

Man gets two DUIs in two hours

GROVE CITY — Police have charged a western Pennsylvania man with drunken driving twice in a little more than two hours.

Police in Hermitage say 31-year-old Donny Clark, of Grove City was first stopped Wednesday at 11:31 p.m. after someone reported a reckless driver.

Police say Clark was released to the custody of a friend who was supposed to drive him home but, instead, apparently drove Clark back to his vehicle. The same officer stopped and charged Clark when he saw him driving at 1:39 a.m. Thursday.

Police did not immediately say if Clark’s friend may face charges. The Associated Press could not locate a listed phone for Clark or an attorney for him in online court records.

http://www.ncnewsonline.com/local/local_story_226104022.html


Accused child rapist heads to court

A Wampum man accused of repeatedly raping a child has been ordered held for court.


Frank W. Snyder, 28, of 2706 Old Route 18, remains in the Lawrence County jail on $100,000 bond.

Snyder is charged with four counts of rape, three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of statutory sexual assault, three counts of indecent exposure, nine counts of corruption of minors, seven counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault and four counts of unlawful contact with a minor.

At a preliminary hearing yesterday before District Judge David Rishel, the victim, now 17, said Snyder has shown her unwanted attention since she was 12 years old.

She said he began by kissing her. When she was 13, she said, Snyder raped her twice and twice more when she was 14. She said on those occasions, he held her down with one hand and put his other hand over her mouth so she would not make noise. She testified he also had threatened her, saying if she told anyone, he would go after her.

Earlier this year, she said, Snyder demanded that she perform oral sex. She said this happened on three occasions.

Snyder’s attorney, Stanley Booker, asked that the bond be reduced but could not get support for this from assistant district attorney Luanne Parkonen.

http://www.ncnewsonline.com/local/local_story_225113944.html


Two men waive hearings on drug charges

Two men charged with drug possession waived their cases to court this week.


Charges against a third man were dismissed.

According to police, George Martin Sr. and 38, George Martin Jr., 18, both of 215 Friendship St. and Maurice M. Caldwell, 22, of 112 W. Grant St., were charged July 27, after a search warrant was served at the Martins’ Friendship Street house. All three were in the house when police executed the search warrant.

Police said two guns and a small quantity of drugs were found.

Martin Jr. is charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance and illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Caldwell is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, crack cocaine and Ecstasy.

District Judge Jennifer Nicholson, presiding at the preliminary hearings, reduced Martin Jr.’s bond from $50,000 to $30,000. Caldwell’s bond was reduced from $10,000 to $2,500. Both remain in the Lawrence County jail.

Martin Sr. is charged with illegal firearm possession by a felon and receiving a gun as stolen property.

Nicholson dismissed charges against George Martin Sr., but he remains in jail on other charges. His bond for those is $75,000.

http://www.ncnewsonline.com/local/local_story_219221434.html

New Castle To Tear Down More Abandoned Homes After Blaze

Roof Collapses During Fire At Abandoned Business

Firefighters in New Castle battled an intense blaze at a building early Monday morning along Long Avenue.Fire crews were called to the former business at about 2:15 a.m.Video showed flames shooting out of the windows. Shortly after firefighters arrived, the roof collapsed.Fire investigators told Channel 11 News that the fire started in the back of the building.They are calling the cause suspicious but have not officially ruled it arson.No one was hurt in the blaze, which was one of more than 50 suspicious fires in New Castle in the past 18 months. Investigators are offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.While police investigate the latest blaze, city code enforcement is trying to tear down abandoned buildings in the area.Investigators said no one lived in the home for years, but the homeowner, Eddie Grossman, said he lived there. No utilities were hooked up though, authorities said.It will now be added to the list of homes being torn down."There's quite a few (of abandoned buildings)," said Code Enforcement Officer Anthony Cioffi, who said there are more than 100.The mayor of New Castle said he is among many people fed up."We got to tear it down now," said Mayor Anthony Mastrangelo. "It takes money away from homes that really need to be torn down."Officials said it costs about $4,000 to tear down each home, but the city recently got some much-needed federal money to help out."We just received money Friday from the state, $150, 000 to begin tearing down homes, and that is going to help," said Mastrangelo.There is still a $3,000 reward for a tip that leads to an arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the arsons.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/20427087/detail.html