Jeannette man accused of kidnapping his mom threatens prosecutors
A Jeannette man accused of kidnapping his mother grew frustrated Tuesday and blurted out a threat when a Westmoreland County judge said he could not drop charges against him.
Neal Hubish, 38, is awaiting trial on charges that he made threats against his then-61-year-old mother, demanded money and refused to let her go anywhere with a phone or internet access the day after she picked him up from the Westmoreland County Prison in February 2016, police and prosecutors said.
But in a status conference before Common Pleas Judge Timothy Krieger on Tuesday, prosecutors said officials had been unable to make contact with Hubish's mother since May, when they tried to notify her of Tuesday's hearing. Hubish insisted he and his mother were on good terms and she wanted to drop the most serious charges against him.
Hubish said he had been calling her from the jail and she was willing to agree to withdraw the felony charges of kidnapping and robbery, and he grew frustrated that neither prosecutors nor the judge would agree to do so Tuesday morning.
“I've been speaking to her on a normal basis from the county prison ... if she wasn't agreeable to me coming back and staying with her, I wouldn't be here asking this today,” Hubish said. “You're obviously not willing to wheel and deal with me. Why don't you do right today and cut me loose?”
When Krieger declined to withdraw the charges — noting that the power to do that rested with the district attorney's office — Hubish became agitated.
Krieger scheduled him for a trial in July, saying that if his mother refused to testify then, that the charges would be dismissed. Hubish was unhappy with staying incarcerated and started demanding to represent himself and demanding that the Jeannette police officers who arrested him come testify, because, he claimed, they, not his mother, had written up the accusations against him.
Hubish refused to cooperate as deputies removed him from the courtroom, hurling a threat in the direction of the attorneys.
“If I find anything is going on with you and my mom, I'll (expletive) hurt you,” he said.
In addition to the felony charges, Hubish was charged with unlawful restraint and false imprisonment, both misdemeanors, and driving on a suspended license, a summary offense. He has remained in the Westmoreland County Prison since his arrest, unable to pay a $250,000 bail.
Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6660.
