A Beaver County man accused of trying to contact a 14-year-old girl through the Internet for sex was arrested by Carnegie police in a cyber sting.
Christian Winterhalter, 30, of Rochester, was arrested at 9 p.m. Tuesday as he sat in his car along the 200 block of West Main Street in Carnegie. He was charged with attempt to commit statutory sexual assault, attempted involuntary deviate sexual assault, attempted indecent assault, corruption of minor, unlawful contact with a minor and disseminating obscene materials.
Carnegie police Chief Jeff Harbin said Winterhalter was under the impression he would meet a 14-year-old girl he had communicated with through an Internet chat room. However, the "girl" actually was Carnegie police Detective Tom Oros.
The two started chatting Sept. 24. Harbin said Winterhalter made sexual references and later sent a nude picture of himself.
Oakland
Candidates' forum to feature Baer, Melvin
State Supreme Court candidates Max Baer and Joan Orie Melvin are scheduled to participate in a candidate's forum at 8 tonight in the Teplitz Moot Courtroom, 3900 Forbes Ave., Oakland.
The University of Pittsburgh is hosting the League of Women Voters forum. It will be broadcast live on Pennsylvania Cable Network and KQV radio. The forum is free and open to the public.
Baer, the Democratic nominee, is an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge, and Melvin, the Republican nominee, is a state Superior Court judge. They are opponents in the election Tuesday for one open seat on the Supreme Court.
Forum moderator John Burkoff, associate dean of academic affairs in Pitt's law school, will pose questions from a panel of law students. Suggested topics include the moratorium on the death penalty, medical malpractice costs and mandated sentencing.
400 students expected to join U.N. simulation
Nearly 400 students from 34 high schools in Western Pennsylvania will meet at the University of Pittsburgh Monday for Pitt's seventh Model United Nations Simulation.
The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the William Pitt Union. The event is sponsored by Pitt's University Center for International Studies, the World Federalist Association of Pittsburgh and the United Nations Association of Pittsburgh.
The program enables students to act as diplomats in mock sessions of the U.N.'s General Assembly committees, the Security Council, the World Health Organization and the African Union.
Students will debate issues such as small-arms trade, water rights, domestic violence, peacekeeping missions, AIDS education and the global response to epidemic outbreaks.
Pittsburgh
Grand jury indicts dentist in insurance-fraud case
A Downtown dentist has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of health-care fraud and giving false statements to the government.
Dr. Alan I. Aronowitz, 57, of Mt. Lebanon, who has offices on Fifth Avenue, is accused of having sent fraudulent forms seeking reimbursement from an insurer.
The indictment alleges that Aronowitz sought payment for procedures that state law requires to be done by a licensed dentist, although he knew that he had used untrained assistants to do the work.
Aronowitz also was charged with lying under oath during a deposition.
The charges carry a maximum term of 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Pittsburgh
Incline will close for maintenance
The Port Authority of Allegheny County's Monongahela Incline will close beginning at 9 a.m. Friday through Saturday for routine maintenance.
Port Authority shuttle buses will transport customers between the Mon Incline upper station on Grandview Avenue and the lower station on West Carson Street during the shutdown. The incline is scheduled to reopen for regular service at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday.
For details, customers may call the transit agency at (412) 442-2000 or (412) 231-7007 for the speech- and hearing-impaired.
Group creates coalition for working families
A community group is launching the "Working Families Coalition" at 7 tonight at the Steelworkers Building, Downtown.
The group is being created by the Allegheny County Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in response to city budget cutbacks by Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy.
ACORN represents low and moderate-income families in 51 cities across the country. The local ACORN chapter has been trying to build a coalition of community groups and unions to provide a power base in the community.
Region
Highmark encourages residents to slim down
One of the region's largest health insurance companies said residents of Cambria and Somerset counties could have a bigger say in health-care costs by watching their waistlines.
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield's regional report for the year found that six of the top 10 health conditions needing treatment are related to obesity or excessive body fat. The conditions ranged from back disorders to heart disease.
Elizabeth Bivens, manager of customer consulting for Highmark's western region, said the company would like to work with local government and business organizations to help residents become healthier.
"If we can raise peoples' awareness of the issues, we can improve their health and reduce their costs," said Highmark marketing director Peter Sitter.
Cambria County Chamber of Commerce Chairman David Davis pledged to support a collective effort to get residents to lose weight.
Swissvale
Hearing delayed for woman in chaining case
A preliminary hearing for a Swissvale woman accused of chaining her boyfriend to a pole in the basement was postponed Wednesday.
Christine M. Vannucci, 46, of Pocono Street, is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, unlawful restraint, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person.
Vannucci's preliminary hearing on the charges has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 5 before Rankin District Justice Ross Cioppa.
Vannucci's boyfriend, Balvantbhai Khalasi, told police she assaulted him with a crowbar and sprayed him with pepper spray before chaining him to a pole in the couple's basement, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed to support the charges.
Khalasi told police he spent four days chained in the basement with only a small bowl of soup to eat. He eventually was able to break the bicycle chain that secured him to the pole and run to a neighboring house for help.
Allegheny County
Veterans can record discharge forms for free
Honorably discharged veterans can record their discharge form, free of charge, with the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds office.
Veterans must either mail or personally bring their original discharge forms to the recorder's office, according to a statement the office released Wednesday. Veterans also are entitled to free certified copies of the discharges if they are recorded in Allegheny County. The free certified copy service is limited to veterans or -- if they are deceased -- to their families.
The Recorder of Deeds office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The office is in the County Office Building, 542 Forbes Ave., Downtown. For details, call (412) 350-4226.
Library Line to close during weekend project
Light-rail transit service on the Library Line will be temporarily suspended after the end of regular service Friday night to permit work on the Port Authority of Allegheny County's Stage II Light Rail Transit project.
The work will continue through Sunday. Regular 42L service on the Library Line will resume Monday morning, the authority said. During the temporary Library shutdown, the Port Authority will operate 42L Library Rail Connector shuttle bus service between the Library Line terminus and Castle Shannon Station, where customers can make a free transfer to or from 42L Library or 42S South Hills Village rail cars.
Crawford County
Man in standoff gets 7- to 14-year sentence
A Warren County man who kept police at bay during a drug-induced armed standoff two years ago will spend at least the next seven years in prison.
Ronald Wray Jr., 35, of Tidioute, said he was using methamphetamine when he shot a man in the leg and then held police at bay for 10 hours when they tried to arrest him in Titusville in October 2001. He gave up after police fired several rounds of tear gas into the house.
Crawford County President Judge Gordon R. Miller on Tuesday sentenced Wray to seven to 14 years in state prison on charges of aggravated assault, carrying firearms without a license and reckless endangerment.
Wray's attorney, Steve Hall, said his client remains under a federal indictment for operating a methamphetamine lab.
Washington County
Woman honored for uncovering lottery scam
A worker at a money-wiring counter was commended for helping an elderly couple get out of a lottery scam.
Charlene Withrow, who works at the Western Union desk at a Kmart in Peters Township, Washington County, thought something wasn't right when the couple wanted to send $5,000 to Costa Rica to pay taxes on $1 million dollars they thought they had won.
Withrow found out it was really a scam and told the couple, but they came back the next day wanting to wire the money again. She contacted police, who found out the couple had lost more than $16,000 in the scam.
On Monday, Peters Township Council honored Withrow, who said she was "just doing my job."
