A Fayette County man has pleaded guilty to killing a cow with a rifle while he and friends were joy riding in December 2003.
Through a plea bargain arranged on Wednesday, Matthew L. Kelly, 21, of 2169 Morgantown Road, Georges Township, will receive probation if the deal is approved by a Fayette County judge.
According to court documents, Kelly and two friends were joking about killing a cow while driving near a Springhill Township farm. The three stopped the car and Kelly fired a Winchester 30-30, killing a black Angus cow, police said.
Kelly was charged with criminal mischief, animal cruelty and criminal conspiracy.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
Connellsville
Man indicted
A former Connellsville Post Office employee has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh for allegedly stealing mail.
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced Wednesday that Angelo John Ross Jr., 53, of 1003 Grandview Ave., Connellsville, is accused in the one-count indictment of stealing two pieces of mail that he was handling as part of his duties as a postal employee on Dec. 4, 2003.
Mike Franczak, officer-in-charge at the Connellsville Post Office, said Wednesday that Ross has been terminated, but Franczak would not say what position Ross held at the Connellsville facility, referring all inquiries to U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Diana Svoboda. Svoboda did not return a call asking for comment.
The investigation leading to the indictment was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaun E. Sweeney, who presented the case to the grand jury, said the charge Ross faces carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Ross did not return a call made to his home.
Fay-West
Donations needed
The American Red Cross response to the recent hurricanes is the largest feeding, sheltering and human resources deployment in its history. To make a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, call 1-800-HELP-NOW or visit www.redcross.org to make a secure donation.
Westmoreland
Man sentenced
A Mount Pleasant man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years and nine months to 31 years and three months for breaking into a Greensburg woman's apartment two years ago and attempting to rape her.
The woman, who was 22 years old at the time of the Aug. 16, 2002, attack, testified tearfully that Davon Clark, 22, of 106 S. Depot St., took from her her sense of safety.
"On many nights I jolt awake thinking someone is in my room waiting to attack me.
"My living room was no longer the place where we watched movies and ate popcorn. It was part of a crime scene. Months later, we held one last party to reclaim the place that it was for us. I don't think one of us made it through the night there. It was eerie, haunted," she said.
Westmoreland County Judge Rita D. Hathaway noted during a five-hour hearing that Clark was in custody or close supervision for four years for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old boy when Clark was 16.
"Within two months of his release, he (attempts to) rape someone," she said.
Hathaway also found Clark to be a sexually violent predator under the state's Megan's Law, meaning upon release that Clark will have to undergo mandatory lifetime treatment for sexual offenders, report his address to police and send notifications to his neighbors.
Clark asserted his innocence at trial, saying he was not the man who attacked the 22-year-old woman. At his sentencing, he refused the opportunity to address Hathaway.
His attorney, Mark H. Rubenstein, of Pittsburgh, asked Hathaway for leniency.
Prosecutors declined.
Clark was convicted at a jury trial in April of climbing through the window of the victim's bathroom, then waking her and holding a knife to her throat as he assaulted her.
The victim was able to physically push Clark off her and escape.
