2012-05-15 22:09:00
P.J REILLY
Lancaster County Prison's interim warden likely will start work Monday.
At their weekly meeting Wednesday morning, the county commissioners are expected to vote to adopt an intergovernmental agreement with the state Department of Corrections to appoint an acting warden for the county jail......
2012-05-13 00:21:00
JACK BRUBAKER
A parent's worst nightmare is outliving a child. A parent's worst nightmare is sending a troubled child somewhere for his own safety and then learning he is dead. In November 2006, Lawrence and Patricia Keohane turned their son into police, with hopes that prison time wou......
2012-05-13 00:20:00
JACK BRUBAKER
One of the reasons Lawrence and Patricia Keohane felt so strongly about suing Lancaster County Prison after their son, Joseph, killed himself there was to persuade the county to improve conditions for other suicidal inmates. Kevin Allen, the Keohanes' Lancaster attorney, said he doesn't k......
2012-05-12 20:59:00
JACK BRUBAKER
If all goes as planned, Lancaster County Prison should have an acting warden by the end of the month. Paul Smeal, retired superintendent of the State Correctional Institution at Smithfield, has not yet been officially confirmed as the corrections official slated to come to Lancaster for t......
2012-05-11 12:26:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police arrested a man in Lititz on Wednesday who they say is suspected of cashing fraudulent checks throughout three states.
Pelvin Dennis Darrien, 52, of Baltimore, tried to cash a fraudulent $1,800 check at 4:30 p.m. at the Northwest Savings Bank, 744 S. Broad St., Lititz Borough police......
2012-05-10 07:39:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A New Holland man was charged with assaulting a police officer Thursday morning.
Adam Timothy Grove was stopped at 2:30 a.m. in the Sheetz parking lot at 698 W. Main St., Earl Township, for suspicion of drunken driving, New Holland police said.
The 25-year-old, who lives at 117 E.......
2012-05-09 13:41:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A convicted sex offender who fled without telling police where he lived now lives behind bars, police said.
After police got a tip regarding his whereabouts, Joseph Charles Bangs, 39, was taken into custody Monday in Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, according to Trooper Richard Drum of the ......
2012-05-08 08:12:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster woman faces charges of aggravated assault and terroristic threats after she allegedly fought with city police officers and threatened them during an incident Saturday at a city nail salon.
City police were called to the Pretty Nails Salon at 220 N. Reservoir St. for an unknown......
2012-05-04 21:39:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Looking back, Meredith Penn would have been wise to take the plea deal, his attorney said Friday.
Instead, Penn refused a deal offered in March of 11 to 23 months in jail — then skipped his trial on burglary charges.
A local judge made him pay on Friday: Penn will spend up t......
2012-05-03 21:59:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Denver man will stand trial on charges that he sexually abused three preteen girls, a district judge ordered Thursday.
Also Thursday, prosecutors filed 51 new felony counts against Thomas Earl Becker for a collection of child pornography that they say was found at his house.
Bec......
2012-05-03 10:21:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man has been charged with having sexual contact with a 9-year-old boy, police said.
The child told a family member that Edward Joseph McKenzie, 62, of the 600 block of Marietta Avenue, inappropriately touched him April 15 at McKenzie's home, city police Detective Lt. Jarrad Be......
2012-05-02 23:07:00
JENNIFER TODD
A 15-year-old Lancaster boy has been charged with committing an armed robbery Saturday in Manheim, police said.
The teen was with a group of people at a home in the first block of West Ferdinand Street when he drew a gun on a woman around 9 p.m. and demanded her purse, according to Manhei......
2012-05-02 22:13:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A man who said he had a toothache and needed money for a root canal is accused of stealing his friend's car and purse Tuesday morning, then robbing a woman and a Turkey Hill before calling 911 and turning himself in to police.
According to Northwest Regional police Officer Gregory Wahl, A......
2012-05-02 21:17:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Peter Weida, in handcuffs and ankle shackles, smiled politely at his family Wednesday morning, then quickly took a seat inside the small courtroom.
Ten minutes later, Weida was ordered by a local magistrate to stand trial on charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
We......
2012-05-02 11:24:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man bought more than $13,000 worth of jewelry and tires in the city in April, but police said there was one problem.
Brian Keith Davis, 34, paid for them using bad checks, city police said in a criminal complaint.
A manager at Lebzelters Goodyear Automotive, 300 N. Que......
2012-04-30 22:43:00
JEFF HAWKES
The first shotgun blast hit a dozing Gwen Smith in the leg. The next struck her arm.
Gwen jolted awake in her recliner.
By the glow of the TV in the darkened living room, she saw her husband, Rodney Smith, pointing a smoking gun. He stood outside the bedroom of their small Ephrata......
2012-04-30 09:49:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster woman was charged with simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment after allegedly throwing a knife close to a 2-year-old boy's head Friday night in the city, police said.
Susan Frances Donatto, 45, of the 100 block of West Strawberry Street, t......
2012-04-30 20:37:55
Venezuelan troops and police stood guard outside a prison in Caracas on Monday after gunfire erupted during what an official said was the second escape attempt in three days.
Authorities foiled an escape by an inmate at La Planta prison in the morning, said Iris ......
2012-04-30 18:16:12
Venezuelan troops and police are standing guard outside a prison in Caracas after gunfire erupted during what an official says was the second escape attempt in three days.
Prisons chief Iris Varela says authorities foiled the escape attempt by an inmate at La Pla......
2012-04-28 18:05:55
Venezuelan authorities say they foiled plans for a prison break when they discovered a tunnel that inmates had dug leading to a sewer.
Prisons official Iris Varela says inmates at La Planta prison in Caracas had dug the tunnel leading to a sewer pipe that emerges......
2012-04-27 18:26:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Lancaster police have arrested a man they say shot another man Tuesday night in the city.
Raleigh Nathan Grant, 24, also known as "Money" or "Swat," is accused of shooting Frederick Burgos, 37, of Lancaster, Tuesday in the 100 block of Old Dorwart Street, according to city police Detectiv......
2012-04-26 23:29:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Twenty-three-year-old J.B. is mentally ill and in need of treatment, a local judge and psychiatrist agree.
Both also agree that J.B. belongs in a mental health facility, where he can get the treatment he needs.
The Lancaster man, who is free on bail, is accused of committing misde......
2012-04-25 12:39:00
STAFF REPORT
A domestic call led to the arrest of two suspected drug dealers in the city on Tuesday, police said.
Officers responded to a disturbance at 4:45 p.m. at a home in the 500 block of Poplar Street, city police said.
Officer Phillip Bernot saw two bags of cocaine, a digital scale, a b......
2012-04-24 22:57:00
JENNIFER TODD
Correction April 26, 2012 — The address of a woman charged by New Holland police with stealing thousands of dollars from her employer was incorrect in an earlier version of the story below. Kimberly Buzzard lives at 250 E. Main St., ......
2012-04-22 21:36:00
P.J. REILLY
Over the past five years, a partnership of county government, nonprofit and faith-based groups and human service organizations has worked to help inmates transition from Lancaster County Prison back into their communities.
According to Scott Sheely, executive director of Lancaster County ......
2012-04-20 22:14:18
The last of four inmates who had escaped from a north-central Kansas county jail was recaptured in Nebraska after nearly three days on the run, an incident that raised questions about the state's management of prison overcrowding.
The Kansas Department of Correct......
2012-04-20 09:03:14
A convicted murderer who escaped from a county jail in Kansas after being transferred from an overcrowded state prison has been caught, the state Department of Corrections said Friday.
Santos Carrera-Morales, 22, was arrested in Russell, Kan., about 80 miles from......
2012-04-19 20:16:17
Kansas officials are rethinking a decision to house prison inmates in a county jail and have moved all of them back to a state facility after four escaped, including a convicted murderer, the state Department of Corrections said Thursday.
The remaining 18 prison ......
2012-04-18 22:34:43
A convicted murderer and another inmate remained at large Wednesday night after escaping from a Kansas jail where they'd been transferred because of overcrowding at a state prison. Two others were apprehended, one after he turned himself in at a Wal-Mart in Nebraska.
......
2012-04-17 16:50:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A local jury recently convicted Barry R. Buchter of a three-year cycle of sex abuse against a girl.
At sentencing Tuesday, Buchter said the jury got it all wrong.
"I'm losing my life when it's nothing but a bunch of lies," Buchter, 47, told County Judge James Cullen. "I did not on......
2012-04-13 22:50:00
P.J. REILLY
The work environment the 190 corrections officers at Lancaster County Prison walk into every day is one that would make most people turn around and run.
Yet someone has to do it.
Someone has to be at the 150-year-old facility at 625 E. King St. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 3......
2012-04-13 21:17:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
An East Earl Township couple were charged with operating a meth lab from a local trailer park, according to investigators.
Police raided a trailer at 40 Lobin Road on Thursday and found methamphetamine and various supplies used to manufacture the drug.
Also inside were Matthew Hor......
2012-04-12 21:14:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster man will spend up to 15 years behind bars for a series of attacks on his family over the holidays in 2010.
Patrick Lee Wagner, now 25, broke into two of his relatives' homes and, in another incident, beat his uncle and grandfather, according to court testimony.
In the ......
2012-04-11 21:53:00
JENNIFER TODD and LARRY ALEXANDER
A Lancaster city man was behind bars Wednesday evening after a three-hour standoff with police in Lancaster Township.
Authorities said the incident began with a domestic dispute during which 26-year-old Jose M. Bones Jr. allegedly pointed a gun at his girlfriend and her children.
......
2012-04-10 21:23:00
P.J. REILLY
Before every shift change among the guards at Lancaster County Prison, there's a meeting to make sure everyone's present and to go over the day's assignments.
It's called the lineup.
At the lineup to begin the 8 a.m.-4 p.m. shift Tuesday, Vincent Guarini showed up to personally an......
2012-04-09 22:49:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Local sheriffs targeted scofflaws, deadbeat parents and other lawbreakers Sunday night in what officials called the largest fugitive sweep here in years.
Two dozen deputies swarmed the county on Easter evening with more than 200 intended target warrants, according to Marc Lancaster, chief......
2012-04-09 22:32:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County Prison Warden Vincent Guarini on Monday submitted his letter of retirement to county officials.
Guarini, 64, who has been warden at the county prison since 1981, has 41 years of experience in the corrections field.
"After more than forty years of conscientious and......
2012-04-06 21:04:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A sex offender has been charged with failing to register his address as required by Megan's Law, police said.
James Lee Robertson Jr., 55, pleaded guilty to a charge of incest in 1994, Lancaster city police said in a criminal complaint.
He has a lifetime requirement to notify stat......
2012-04-05 22:38:00
JENNIFER TODD
Police have charged five people with the brutal beating last month of an East Lampeter Township man.
Investigators said the 43-year-old victim suffered fractures to his neck, back, face and chest in the attack, which occurred around 10 p.m. March 21 in the 800 block of Gail Place in the E......
2012-04-05 22:30:00
JENNIFER TODD
A 27-year-old man has been charged with firing several shots into a vehicle containing his two young children early Thursday in Columbia.
The children, a 1-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, were not hurt, according to Columbia Borough Police.
Investigators said it was during a d......
2012-04-04 22:00:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
There are problem prisoners, and then there is Israel Shampoo Diaz.
Diaz, an inmate at Lancaster County Prison, has taken bad behavior behind bars to a new level, according to officials.
From disrespecting prison staff to other misconduct, Diaz has been an issue since being commit......
2012-04-03 21:31:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A child made a grown man cry Tuesday in Lancaster County Court.
Seven-year-old Lunari Rodriguez spoke stoically of how she slowly recovered from multiple gunshot wounds sustained on Oct. 18.
"I can prove you shot me," Lunari told Rene Ruiz-Mayo, the charged shooter, "from the mark......
2012-04-02 21:51:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A homeless woman assaulted a police officer in Strasburg Township on Friday, police said.
A resident of the 700 block of Deiter Road reported at about 9 a.m. that an unknown female was in a car parked in his driveway, state police said in a criminal complaint.
Trooper Ian Janos re......
2012-04-02 19:33:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Gap man has been arrested and charged with robbing a hardware store in a rural area of Salisbury Township, police said.
Kevin L. Dowlin, 31, went into the Gideon King Hardware Store, 5466 Elam Road, Kinzers, the afternoon of March 27, state police at Ephrata said.
He acted like ......
2012-04-02 09:55:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster city woman charged with allegedly setting a fire in January that killed her husband will stand trial, a district justice has ordered.
Nancy Helen Clark, 59, is accused of homicide and arson, charges that stem from a Jan. 9 fire at her Olive Street home on Olive Street.
...
2012-04-02 14:22:00
STAFF REPORT
A Reinholds man who was shot by Reading police last year after a high-speed chase was sentenced to 3 to 7 years in state prison.
Michael V. Roberts, 24, struck two officers during the Aug. 31 chase, which ended when Roberts was shot when officers opened fire.
Roberts pleaded guilt......
2012-03-30 21:19:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Timothy Lynch committed a variety of criminal offenses last year, including assaults on police officers, death threats against his ex-girlfriend and a high-speed chase with police.
A local judge ordered Friday that Lynch spend at least 5 years in state prison for the seven separate crimin......
2012-03-30 21:12:00
STAFF REPORT
A Lebanon man will spend up to 60 years in prison for more than 70 burglaries — including 22 in Lancaster County.
Michael Gutekunst, 38, of North Cornwall Township, pleaded guilty Thursday in a plea agreement of 18 to 60 years in prison, according to the Lebanon Daily News.
......
2012-03-30 21:09:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Three daylight robberies in Lancaster city will cost young Spencer Bryant up to 8 years in state prison.
Bryant will spend at least 4 years in prison for the random robberies of three city youths on Jan. 22, 2010.
Bryant, now 20, targeted a pair of Franklin & Marshall College&......
2012-03-29 21:27:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Police have filed charges against a former Mount Joy man, who was arrested last summer with another fugitive in Dauphin County.
Kevin Michael Love, 19, was charged by the Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department with burglary, theft, criminal conspiracy and unauthorized use of......
2012-03-29 13:50:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Gordonville man nabbed for alleged local crimes also is under suspicion of committing felonies in Mississippi and Arkansas, police said.
Aaron Joseph Melasecca, 32, on March 21 stole a new Shasta travel trailer from a storage lot at Grand Rental Station, 1520 Lincoln Highway East, East ......
2012-03-28 20:48:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Thanks in part to a quick-acting neighbor, two Columbia men were arrested Tuesday night after police say they burglarized two homes in Bainbridge.
Shortly before 7 p.m., the neighbor called 911 and said he had seen burglars leaving a home at 100 Market St. with stolen property, Susquehann......
2012-03-28 20:42:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A teenager's attempt to burglarize a house in Lancaster Township on Monday was foiled because the owner was home, Manheim Township police Sgt. Tom Rudzinski said.
The owner of a home in the 600 block of Wyncroft Lane confronted Kawan R. Watts, 18, of Sterling Place, after he saw the teen ......
2012-03-28 20:22:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County has reached a contract agreement with one of its employee unions and is headed to arbitration with two others.
The commissioners and Pennsylvania Social Services Union Local 668, which represents 102 employees of the county's Children & Youth Agency, agreed to a two-y......
2012-03-27 21:34:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster County judge raised bail Tuesday on a local teenager charged with stabbing a Lancaster County Day School student with a meat cleaver.
Peter Weida, 19, had been at Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail for attempted homicide and related charges after the Sunday mornin......
2012-03-26 21:52:00
JENNIFER TODD
Lancaster police said the assault of an 18-year-old Lancaster Country Day School international student Sunday was a "completely unprovoked attack."
There was no disagreement and no discord before Peter Thomas Weida, 19, struck the female victim with a meat cleaver at his home at 802 State......
2012-03-26 19:39:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Millersville University student is charged with severely beating his ex-girlfriend and kidnapping her from a campus dormitory this weekend.
Akeem M. Johnson, 24, punched the victim at least 10 times Saturday morning before forcing her from her room at Burrowes Hall and into his car, acc......
2012-03-23 20:05:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A city man screamed about killing people and brandished a large knife and sword Friday in downtown Lancaster, police said.
No one was injured in the 12:17 a.m. incident in the 100 block of South Queen Street, city police Lt. Todd Umstead said.
Officers responded for a distur......
2012-03-22 22:07:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
James Gerald Ashby will spend up to 20 years in prison for robbing the same local convenience store four times.
Ashby, through his attorney, said his motivation for repeatedly robbing a Turkey Hill on Route 41 in Salisbury Township was a drug habit.
"He wanted money," defense lawy......
2012-03-22 21:06:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Three robbers invaded an Elizabethtown apartment in broad daylight on Tuesday, police said.
One of them beat and kicked a 26-year-old resident in the head and also struck his head with a hammer, Elizabethtown police Detective John Emrick said.
The robbers fled with about $1,000 ca......
2012-03-22 09:59:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Columbia man in a stolen vehicle led officers on a chase in Lancaster and Berks counties overnight Wednesday, police said.
East Cocalico Township police at about 10:45 p.m. spotted a Suzuki XL7 being driven with the taillights off at North 6th and Maple streets in Denver Borough, Cpl. T......
2012-03-21 21:10:00
RYAN ROBINSON
One man allegedly stabbed two people with a kitchen knife.
Another man wrapped a cord around a woman's neck and tightened it enough that she struggled to breathe, police said.
A third man is accused of biting a woman's lip and punching her in the face.
They are among six m......
2012-03-21 20:56:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Quarryville man admitted Wednesday to sexually assaulting three local girls for nearly a decade.
James C. Pruitt, 46, is charged with committing rape and forcing other sex acts upon three local girls from 2002 to the end of 2010.
The abuse involved three victims who were between......
2012-03-20 20:56:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster County Prison inmate was ordered to stand trial on charges he smuggled drugs past guards and shared them with his cellmate.
Jay Allen Brubaker waived a preliminary hearing at District Judge Janice Jimenez's office Tuesday. Jimenez, in turn, ordered Brubaker to trial on three f......
2012-03-20 20:49:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Meredith Penn came to court Monday looking to make a deal.
Unfortunately for him, he was about a week late.
His trial on felony burglary and related charges was held without him last week. He was convicted and will be sentenced in two months.
When he failed to show up for ......
2012-03-20 20:23:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police have charged a motorist, alleging his vehicle struck a pedestrian in Lancaster city March 8.
Michael K. Hofmann, 34, of the 1000 block of Eshelman Mill Road, Willow Street, voluntarily turned himself in to city police Monday after being requested to do so, they said.
City p......
2012-03-19 23:38:00
JENNIFER TODD
A Manheim man is facing charges after he was found naked and asleep on a stranger's couch early Monday in Manheim Borough.
Police said residents of the 500 block of Rambler Road came home at 2 a.m. and discovered Daniel Lee Englehart, 22, covered with a blanket and sleeping in their livin......
2012-03-19 22:20:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man groped a teenage girl in a Lancaster city park on Sunday, police said.
The 15-year-old city girl was walking through Binns Park in the 100 block of North Queen Street at about 8 p.m., city police said.
Ram Chandra Subedi, 25, of the 600 block of West Orange Street,......
2012-03-19 22:10:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Three Lancaster men were ordered Monday to stand trial for allegedly kidnapping and robbing a city man at gunpoint over three days in December.
The victim testified for two hours about how the men came to his business and demanded $5,000. The victim was handcuffed and forced to withdraw m......
2012-03-19 21:09:00
CINDY STAUFFER
A pink-and-purple bicycle helped lead police to a theft suspect.
According to city police, the bicycle and its rider were first seen in the 400 block of East Clay Street shortly after 9:30 Friday morning.
A man was seen inside a car there by someone who knew the car's owner, polic......
2012-03-19 15:42:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police have charged a Lancaster city man with intimidating a witness in a homicide trial.
During the trial a year ago for the 2004 killing of Heather Nunn, Hayward Jamar Stewart, 34, pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, city police said.
Stewart, with a last-kn......
2012-03-19 10:30:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A teenager was arrested after brutally assaulting a paralyzed man in a wheelchair Sunday in West Lampeter Township, police said.
Michael Green, 19, of 1125 Beaver Valley Pike, also assaulted another man who intervened and a police officer trying to arrest him, township police Officer Crai......
2012-03-16 22:28:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A tragedy like the one that occurred Dec. 30, 2010, was bound to happen to Michael D. Hershey, a local judge told Hershey on Friday.
It was only a matter of time, the judge said.
Hershey, then a car salesman, caused a violent crash during a test-drive that killed a Leola man and s......
2012-03-16 22:01:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Skipping his trial wasn't a smart move by Meredith Penn.
Scheduled to be tried earlier this week on four felonies, Penn instead stayed home, according to officials. He told court personnel that he didn't have a ride, officials said.
The show went on without him, however, and he wa......
2012-03-16 18:18:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
An Ephrata man was arrested this week and accused of having sexual encounters with two underage girls.
Harvey Segarra, 21, of Church Street, was charged on Tuesday with sexual assault for allegedly having relations with two girls, ages 13 and 15.
The complaint, filed with Ephrata ......
2012-03-15 21:02:00
RYAN ROBINSON
An alleged drunken driver fled from police and crashed into a building in Columbia on Wednesday night, police said.
John Thomas Burgess, 19, of 145 City Mill Road, had a blood alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit after the crash, Columbia Borough police said in a crimina......
2012-03-14 23:10:00
JENNIFER TODD
An employee at an area convenience store immediately recognized the credit card that a young man handed to her early Tuesday.
The clerk was familiar with the name on the card, and for good reason: It was her mother's.
She also recognized the young man. The two had attended the sam......
2012-03-14 21:39:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Anna Ackerman pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges that she sexually assaulted a "severely intoxicated" boy at her home three years ago — and this time her plea is final.
A judge sentenced Ackerman, 45, to 4 to 10 years in state prison for performing sex acts on the 15-year-old b......
2012-03-14 20:58:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Calvin Monroe Smith potentially faced a mandatory 10-year prison sentence if convicted this week of beating two city women with a wooden beam.
He'll serve less than a year in jail after prosecutors offered a plea deal following the first witness at trial.
Tamara Stoy testified Tue......
2012-03-12 20:14:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
The voluntary manslaughter verdict reached last week in the homicide trial of Sequoyah Hawkins didn't satisfy everyone who watched.
The reactions of two spectators went too far, according to law-enforcement officials.
Disorderly conduct charges were filed against two men who react......
2012-03-10 23:01:00
Jack Brubaker
On a warm September night in 2010, Steven W. Warner held a loaded shotgun to his wife's head. "You're gonna die," he threatened her. "I have a bullet with your name on it." That's what Kimberly Warner told an investigating Warwick Township police officer. The officer charged her husband......
2012-03-10 11:20:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Denver man is charged with numerous sexual assaults, including rape, of three local, pre-teenage girls, officials said. Thomas Earl Becker, 53, is behind bars after East Cocalico police filed a dozen charges Friday relating to a three-year cycle of abuse. Becker is accused of raping a......
2012-03-09 22:33:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster man was ordered to jail this week for collecting workers' compensation benefits while he worked full-time as a mechanic.
David Kyle Good, 46, will serve 2 to 23 months in prison, followed by two years on probation, after a jury convicted him Wednesday of three felony charges....
2012-03-08 22:33:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Correction March 9, 2012 — An earlier headline for this article misstated the location of the death of a teenager involved in a drinking party. The teenager died at a hospital and not at the home where the party was held.
...
2012-03-07 21:30:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A wanted Lancaster County man hid in a refrigerator in his hotel room, but a police dog sniffed him out on Tuesday.
The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force tracked 26-year-old Calvin Williams to the Four Seasons Motel at 3920 Columbia Ave., West Hempfield Township, Chris Leppler of the Lanc......
2012-03-06 21:37:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster County woman waited 28 years for this day, the day her attacker finally was brought to justice.
She still remembers the night in 1984 when a man entered her home and sexually assaulted her.
"I was fearful for many years," she said in court Monday.
She was fearf......
2012-03-05 13:45:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police on Monday charged a Gordonville man with several burglaries, they said.
John Daniel Stoltzfus, 27, of 11 Barr Ave., Gordonville, targeted one resident and several businesses in Leacock and Paradise townships Sept. 8 and 10, state police Trooper George B. Forsyth said in a criminal ......
2012-03-05 10:33:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster city teenager was charged with aggravated assault after he broke a finger of a policeman trying to arrest him on Saturday, police said.
City police Officer Steven Reich responded to a violent domestic incident at the teen's home at 101 S. Pearl St. at 5:44 a.m., police said in......
2012-03-04 23:25:00
JENNIFER TODD
An East Earl Township man has been charged after he allegedly shot another man during a game of Russian roulette Saturday night.
According to East Earl Township police, Kurt R. Schnoor, 48, shot Michael DeBoard, 50, in the stomach with a .357-caliber pistol around 7:30 p.m. after DeBoard ......
2012-03-02 21:20:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A "menace to society" will serve up to 60 years in prison for stabbing a man during a Lancaster city robbery in 2010, according to a judge's order.
Santos Rodriguez, 46, was released from jail in 2010 — for killing a city man in 1996 — when he stabbed another man outside ......
2012-03-02 15:34:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Detectives have charged a pair of brothers and a city teen with running a heroin ring.
Police allege the trio was purchasing bundles of heroin in Philadelphia and selling it here.
Charged earlier this week were: Orrin "Juice" Stanford, 30, his brother, Isaiha Stanford, 18, and Tim......
2012-03-01 22:11:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster city man already in jail and charged with a series of brazen heists at area businesses has been charged with another violent robbery.
Juan "Cano" Gonzalez, 45, was originally locked up after he was charged in connection with a trio of armed robberies in January at three city s......
2012-03-01 10:17:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Dwan Massey, by all accounts, feared for his safety when a man came looking for him with a baseball bat in 2009.
He crossed the line when he retrieved a shotgun and pulled the trigger.
Massey was ordered to jail Wednesday for shooting a man on a sidewalk outside a Lancaster city h......
2012-02-29 22:39:00
JENNIFER TODD
Police say Donald L. Wilson told them he acted on impulse when he decided to abduct a woman Tuesday night in the parking lot of Giant food store on Lititz Pike.
He made eye contact with her and decided he wanted to rape her, Manheim Township police said Wilson told them. Brandishing a kni......
2012-02-29 21:28:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on more than a dozen charges for allegedly preying on local girls with his cellphone.
Eddison Abreu, 19, is charged with contacting at least four girls at random, asking for sexual favors and making other lewd remarks.
He also s......
2012-02-28 23:09:00
TOM KNAPP
For the second time in as many months, charges have been filed against a Lancaster County Prison inmate for drugs smuggled inside prison walls.
Prison officials, along with the Lancaster County Drug Task Force, arrested an inmate and his sister on Monday for bringing contraband into the p......
2012-02-28 20:55:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A woman stabbed her boyfriend early Tuesday at their Mountville home, police said.
A clerk at the Turkey Hill at 320 E. Main St., Mountville, called 911 at 2:43 a.m. and reported that a man in the store was bleeding after having been stabbed, West Hempfield Township police said in a crimi......
2012-02-28 20:09:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Gabriel Salvador-Rodriguez will spend up to 20 years in state prison for shooting a Lancaster city teenager in the face last year.
A local judge told Salvador-Rodriguez he's lucky it's not longer.
Salvador-Rodriguez shot the teen during a botched robbery on June 15 inside a car on......
2012-02-27 23:33:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Robert Baker believed he could have defended himself in court against charges that he helped kill Ray Diener in 2007.
His attorneys, however, disagreed, according to court testimony on Monday.
Baker, one of four men serving prison sentences stemming from the killing of the 65-year......
2012-02-27 23:24:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Offenders like Juanita Robertson are the reason the state's welfare system has a bad reputation, a local judge said Monday morning.
For two years, Robertson collected welfare benefits while hiding the fact that she lived with a man who earned an income, according to testimony.
Rob......
2012-02-24 10:21:00
RYAN ROBINSON
An East Petersburg woman was caught shoplifting for the eighth time on Thursday, police said.
Misty Michelle Mays, 43, of the 6000 block of High Street, placed several watches and pieces of fashion jewelry in a purse she selected at the JC Penney store at Park City Center, city police sai......
2012-02-23 22:02:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A former local teacher was ordered to trial Thursday for taking lewd photos of a student with whom she allegedly had sexual encounters.
Christy L. Smith waived a preliminary hearing and likely will go to trial later this year.
Charges already were pending against Smith for having ......
2012-02-23 10:10:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Manheim Township man was arrested after leading police on a chase in Lancaster city on Wednesday, police said.
City police Lt. Christopher Laser tried to stop a 2012 Dodge Avenger for alleged traffic violations at West Walnut and North Pine streets at 11:54 a.m., police said.
Th......
2012-02-23 09:33:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man was charged with aggravated assault after allegedly stabbing a man in the city Wednesday night, police said.
Officers responded to the 400 block of Manor Street at 6:35 p.m. for a reported stabbing.
They located a 43-year-old city man with lacerations to his face a......
2012-02-22 21:57:00
JENNIFER TODD
City police have charged an Ephrata man with burglarizing several offices over the weekend at the Griest Building in downtown Lancaster.
And police in Ephrata say the same man is responsible for burglaries there earlier this month at a theater and pool.
Richard Anthony Garcia-Flor......
2012-02-22 21:03:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lititz man will spend at least six years in state prison for beating his infant daughter, causing a skull fracture and brain injuries.
Eric M. Ortega said he is shocked at his own behavior, which likely caused the child permanent damage, according to court testimony.
"I still ca......
2012-02-22 20:53:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A former local all-star athlete will serve probation for assaulting a man last year outside a Manheim Township hotel.
Leontae Turner admitted to "smacking" the victim and knocking him to the pavement on May 12 at Country Hearth Inn on Keller Avenue.
In exchange for the guilty plea......
2012-02-21 23:09:00
JENNIFER TODD
Police didn't have to look far to find a man whom they say assaulted and robbed a taxi cab driver Sunday morning in East Lampeter Township.
Officers responding early Tuesday to a burglar alarm at M&S Auto, 2282 Old Philadelphia Pike, found the suspect, 26-year-old Dennis Maurice Bonne......
2012-02-21 22:09:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Denver teenager shuddered and cried Tuesday when he was ordered to prison for a widespread vandalism "rampage" in 2010.
Rickey Earl Batz was the last of what prosecutors deemed the "BB Gun Bandits" to be sentenced for a shooting spree across eight municipalities here.
He fidgete......
2012-02-17 23:21:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Attorneys for two people recently jailed for sexually assaulting a man who later died of a drug overdose have filed appeals, saying the judge's orders were "unjustifiably harsh."
Troy Stewart and Lauren Reed were sentenced last month to 10 to 20 years in state prison for shoving a drumsti......
2012-02-17 14:58:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Megan's Law offender is in prison after city police allege he had inappropriate contact with a 15-year-old girl while she was sleeping.
Police on Feb. 8 received a report that Ismael Antonetti-Ortiz, 63, of 530 W. King St., Apt. 3, had inappropriate contact that morning with a girl who ......
2012-02-16 22:27:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Lancaster County Prison Warden Vincent Guarini held a small plastic-wrapped package in his hand.
That, Guarini said, was the size of 39 packets of heroin, pills and two hypodermic needles that an inmate smuggled past guards into the prison last month and then shared with a cellmate.
......
2012-02-16 22:19:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Warwick Township man was charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse of children for allegedly having child pornography, police said.
Frederick A. Torrence, 51, of 1257 E. Newport Road, Lititz, was arrested without incident at his home Wednesday after a warrant had been obtained, Sgt. George......
2012-02-16 20:51:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
David Lutz was the "leader" of a widespread vandalism spree in 2010 that caused about $38,000 in damages here, according to court testimony Thursday.
For that reason, county Judge Louis Farina said, Lutz will be punished more severely than the teenagers who were along for the ride.
...
2012-02-15 22:05:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Nancy Helen Clark has gone from trauma patient at a Delaware County burn center to inmate at Lancaster County Prison.
Five weeks after allegedly setting a fire here that killed her husband, Clark is now behind bars charged with homicide.
Clark, 59, was seriously injured in the Jan......
2012-02-15 21:57:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Marietta man is charged with driving drunk and high on marijuana when he crashed his car and injured two passengers.
Tyler Gentry, 22, was charged with several offenses, including aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, in relation to the Nov. 19 crash in Penn Township.
Gentry ......
2012-02-13 23:05:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A Delaware man is in prison charged with having had sexual relations with a 15-year-old Manheim Township girl.
Miguel Angel Pagan, 44, of 46 Roxeter Road, New Castle, Del., allegedly had sexual relations with the girl at least 10 times starting Nov. 25. The most recent incident was Friday......
2012-02-13 22:29:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Correction Feb. 14, 2011 — Eddison Abreu, who is charged with more than a dozen felony sex crimes for allegedly preying on local girls with his cellphone, is not a Warwick High School graduate, according to the district's director of......
2012-02-13 21:33:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Drug addiction has turned a former three-sport high school athlete into a state prisoner, according to testimony in Lancaster County court.
Just a few years ago, Marc Andrews starred in football, baseball and wrestling at Ephrata High School, his attorney said in court.
Andrews no......
2012-02-10 22:31:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Ten women sit in a circle in an overheated, dimly lit room in Lancaster County Prison, with a print of the Last Supper on the wall for inspiration and a roll of toilet paper on a table for wiping their eyes.
They are here after a cascade of bad choices: shoplifting, drunken driving, unpai......
2012-02-09 21:30:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A man who fled to New York after killing a man here in 1999 was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison Thursday after accepting a plea deal.
James Malave won't have to begin serving his sentence for at least the next six years because he's already serving a 10-year minimum sentence i......
2012-02-09 13:01:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster city woman was charged with aggravated harassment after she spit on a police officer Thursday morning, police said.
Officers responded to the 500 block of Howard Avenue around 1:30 a.m. for a report of a woman outside who was possibly trying to fight occupants of a home, polic......
2012-02-08 21:37:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Clarification Feb. 9, 2011 — Jay Brubaker, an inmate charged with bringing drugs into Lancaster County Prison, was committed to jail after Ephrata police filed charges last month. However, Ephrata police officers did not transport Br......
2012-02-08 21:29:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster city teenager is behind bars after a crime spree that resulted in four arrests and 12 charges in two weeks.
Samara Jimenez, 19, is accused of several crimes, from armed robbery to retail theft, according to investigators.
Jimenez was arrested three times last month but......
2012-02-08 20:15:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Willow Street man threatened his girlfriend with a knife at his home Wednesday morning, police said.
She called 911 to report the incident at 3:18 a.m., West Lampeter Township police Chief James Walsh said.
The woman told police her boyfriend, Brett W. Martin, 50, of 10 Donnelly......
2012-02-07 22:02:00
DAN NEPHIN
Dennis Richard Silvius recently told his landlord and neighbors that he'd be undergoing a heart procedure Tuesday, they said.
Instead, around 9:30 a.m., the 54-year-old robbed the Sovereign Bank around the corner from the boardinghouse where he'd been living, Manheim police said, briefly ......
2012-02-03 21:42:00
JENNIFER TODD
Seven alleged drug dealers are out of business as the result of a two-day detail carried out by Lancaster police.
The sweep, which targeted street-level drug activity, was conducted Wednesday and Thursday by the city police Selective Enforcement Unit.
During the "Buy/Bust" operati......
2012-02-02 21:55:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
So, what do child pornography users charged here look like?
Thinking tattered T's and torn jeans? Try neck ties and college degrees.
As the number of charged child porn collectors climbs, investigators are learning more about their profiles — and how dangerous they are.
......
2012-02-01 21:39:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Elizabethtown police said they raided a borough business on Wednesday, arresting the store owner and an employee and charging them with sales of designer drugs, in some cases in exchange for "food stamps."
Police said that CR's Friendly Market, 550 E. High St., was selling synthetic marij......
2012-01-31 21:38:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A local judge took a "chance" Tuesday on a young woman who bit off another woman's ear in a 2010 attack.
Luz Sanchez was spared a lengthy state prison sentence — which state guidelines suggested — and ordered to spend 1 to 2 years in county prison.
"I know I'm taking a......
2012-01-31 20:31:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Troy Stewart and Lauren Reed pleaded for leniency in court Tuesday as they stood for sentencing for the sexual assault of an unconscious man in 2010.
Lancaster County President Joseph Madenspacher granted no such mercy.
Madenspacher ordered each defendant to serve 10 to 20 years i......
2012-01-31 20:22:00
RYAN ROBINSON
An Ephrata Borough man has been charged with 98 counts of sexual abuse of children, police said.
James A. Brown, 35, of 158 Heatherwood Drive, had child pornography on his home computers, police said.
Brown was charged after he shared a photo online of a nude child with Ephrata po......
2012-01-31 17:38:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A state prison escapee might be headed to Lancaster, police said Tuesday.
Kenyatta Omar Blaylock, 31, of Philadelphia, left the Wernersville Community Corrections Center at 11:35 a.m. Monday with permission to go to Lancaster County Courthouse, state police at Reading said.
Accord......
2012-01-30 23:31:00
STAFF REPORT
State police have charged a New Holland man with the armed robbery of a Gap sandwich shop in August.
Joshua Handel, 20, is charged with robbery, unlawful restraint, terroristic threats and theft for the Aug. 10 robbery at Subway, 5323 Lincoln Highway.
Police said Handel displayed ......
2012-01-27 22:48:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lititz man who raped a pre-teen girl and offered sex to another girl through a social-networking site will spend 15 to 30 years in state prison.
John Christopher Forehand, 41, gave a tearful apology while hearing his sentence Friday afternoon in Lancaster County Court.
A psychol......
2012-01-27 21:50:00
STAFF REPORT
An East Lampeter Township man is facing sex abuse charges relating to his conduct with three girls.
Erin Gregory Henderson, 43, of 143 Greenland Drive, has been charged with three counts of sexual abuse of children, one count of indecent assault and two counts of corruption of minors for ......
2012-01-27 21:26:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Brandon Eakman kept the largest collection of child pornography ever prosecuted in Lancaster County Court, according to testimony Friday at his sentencing.
He possessed more than 13,000 photos and videos on personal computers and zip drives, according to testimony.
The collection ......
2012-01-26 22:47:00
STAFF REPORT
Police have charged a Lititz man who they say used a knife to hold up an East Hempfield Township convenience store Sunday night.
Through an investigation, police were able to identify 20-year-old Jon K. Taylor as a suspect.
He was taken into custody with the assistance of Lancaste......
2012-01-26 22:07:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A local high school freshman trembled Thursday at the sight of Michael Archacki.
The 14-year-old girl's voice quivered and she cried while describing how Archacki, a former Chester County police officer and fireman, fondled and raped her last summer.
The girl said she was spending......
2012-01-26 15:40:00
CINDY STAUFFER
A Manheim Township man was arrested for attacking his 75-year-old mother, dragging her into her house and then preventing her from answering the door when police arrived to help her, investigators said.
Gary W. Williams, 47, of the 100 block of Tanglewood Lane, was charged with simple ass......
2012-01-26 10:29:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Authorities said they have arrested the third of three men charged with threatening, kidnapping and extorting a Lancaster city businessman.
Lennell Anthony Preston, 35, of the 600 block of Rockland Street, was arrested Wednesday night in the 400 block of West Vine Street by U.S. Marshals ......
2012-01-25 22:52:00
JENNIFER TODD
Police say he slammed her head into the vehicle's dashboard numerous times.
He allegedly punched her in the face and leg and, at one point, tried to choke her — all as he maneuvered a vehicle through Lancaster city early on Oct. 5.
When the woman managed to escape the moving......
2012-01-25 22:44:00
JENNIFER TODD
A Gap man is facing charges that he committed 30 burglaries in two counties during a five-week span late last year, police said.
Authorities say Donald Welsh Jr., 37, of 672 Gault Road, struck homes and businesses in nine townships in Lancaster County and a home in South Londonderry Towns......
2012-01-25 10:18:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Alert neighbors helped police catch a Columbia woman trying to break into an East Donegal Township house for the second time, police reported.
Brittney Lee Sawyers, 26, of 1274 Kinderhook Road, Columbia, targeted a home in the 700 block of Union School Road on Dec. 5 and Jan. 8, Susquehan......
2012-01-24 21:18:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A man who beat a 2010 rape conviction on a technicality was sentenced after a retrial to 30 to 60 years in state prison on Friday.
Anthony James Johnson, 29, had been offered a plea deal prior to the retrial that would have resulted in a 6-to-12-year sentence, but he refused.
A ju......
2012-01-24 12:48:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police allege a Lancaster city woman stabbed her husband with scissors Monday, an injury for which he was hospitalized.
Maria Elena Ortiz, 25, was charged with aggravated assault in the 5:30 p.m. incident at the couple's home in the 400 block of West Vine Street, city police said in a cri......
2012-01-23 21:47:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A former local high school teacher accused of having sex with a pair of students is now charged with taking photos of the assaults.
Lancaster city police allege Christy L. Smith took several photos of sexual encounters with one of the victims, a 17-year-old boy. According to police, the b......
2012-01-23 21:39:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Kelley Lee Breniser was spared prison last April, the first time she was sentenced for stealing from her employer.
She wasn't so lucky the second time.
A Lancaster County judge jailed Breniser for 9 to 23 months for stealing more than $11,600 from a different employer.
In ......
2012-01-23 21:29:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Two county men have been charged with two more armed robberies, police said Monday.
They are Shaun Ronald Appler, 26, of 269 Loop Road, Quarryville, and Evan Charles Blank, 21, of 3154 Lincoln Highway East, Paradise, state police Trooper Gerard Sauers said.
The pair robbed the Tur......
2012-01-20 21:01:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police arrested two men Thursday in connection with three armed robberies in East Lampeter Township earlier this week.
Charges against them also are pending for three other robberies in nearby municipalities.
Township and state police on Thursday arrested Shaun Ronald Appler, 26, ......
2012-01-20 11:01:00
JENNIFER TODD
Four people have been charged in connection with the assault and robbery of two men Wednesday in New Holland.
Police said the assailants targeted the victims because they were wearing a color associated with a certain gang.
Lt. Jonathan Heisse said the victims "just happened to be......
2012-01-19 21:59:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It's an old scam. Go up to a home, offer to pave the owner's driveway, then either collect the money and not do the work or complete the job and then charge the person much more than the original quote.
Sometimes the ploy works, and sometimes it doesn't.
For Frankie Lee Broadway, ......
2012-01-19 21:47:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
An eighth DUI conviction will cost a Lititz man up to 4 1/2 years in prison.
Barry Shultz has a history of driving under the influence of alcohol that dates to 1986, according to court records.
His latest two charges — both in Lancaster city, last year and in 2007 — pr......
2012-01-19 20:59:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police have arrested an alleged drug dealer in Lancaster city, they said.
Officers responded at about 11 p.m. Tuesday to Mangat Mini Market, 629 W. Orange St., for a reported drug violation, city police said in a criminal complaint.
When officers asked Elizar Maldonado, 25, of the......
2012-01-19 09:46:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
"Blind drunkenness" caused Orlando Johnson to break into his neighbor's house last year and sexually assault her, his attorney said in court.
"This whole criminal episode was a direct result of that," attorney Christopher Tallarico said Wednesday at Johnson's sentencing.
Lancaster......
2012-01-18 21:17:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Terry Lighty hardly flinched when a judge ordered him to state prison for 25 to 50 years.
Lighty, convicted in November of breaking into a Franklin & Marshall College professor's home, knew what was coming, his attorney said this week.
Lighty faced a mandatory 25-year sentence......
2012-01-18 20:45:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A local man with a history of sex offenses and other crimes is headed back to state prison for yet another lewd behavior.
A local judge ordered the maximum allowable sentence Tuesday against Richard D. Owen, sending him upstate for 1 to 2 years.
Owen, 55, of Manheim, was on probat......
2012-01-18 19:57:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A jailhouse conversation about murder will cost a Lancaster city man up to 12 years in state prison, a judge ordered on Wednesday.
Steven Ingram will spend at least six years in state prison for offering his former cellmate $10,000 to kill his ex-boyfriend's new companion.
Ingram,......
2012-01-18 08:53:00
RYAN ROBINSON
An observant neighbor helped police nab two suspects in a home burglary in Ephrata, police said.
Electronics valued at $600 were taken from a home in the 100 block of West Sunset Avenue on Monday, Ephrata police said.
A neighbor who witnessed the burglary recognized one of t he su......
2012-01-17 22:14:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Michael D. Hershey exhaled, then closed his eyes Tuesday when a local judge explained how his actions in 2010 caused the death of a Leola man.
Hershey, a car salesman, was driving under the influence when he took a pair of customers on a test drive on Dec. 30, 2010, the judge explained....
2012-01-17 20:55:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Torrie Gochnauer told a judge Tuesday that, with the proper therapy, he never would have produced the child pornography that was found on his computer in 2010.
"I could have been such a much better person if I'd have just gotten help a long time ago," Gochnauer told Lancaster County Presi......
2012-01-13 21:13:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man was arrested after police say he fired a gun in the air numerous times in North York on Sunday.
Northern York County Regional Police on Wednesday obtained an arrest warrant for Andre Isiah Threatt, 22, of 2338 Fruitville Pike, they said in a press release.
On Wedne......
2012-01-13 12:01:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Conoy Township man was sent to prison after police say he severely assaulted his wife at their home on Thursday.
Scot Anthony Hipple, 41, of the 2500 block of River Road, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault, Susquehanna Regional police said.
An 18-year-old woman ......
2012-01-12 23:04:00
JENNIFER TODD
Less than 24 hours after he allegedly robbed a Lancaster city bank, Dustin Lee Rettew was behind bars.
Rettew, 37, of the 100 block of House Rock Road, Pequea, allegedly held up Northwest Savings Bank, 922 Columbia Ave., Wednesday afternoon.
Police say it was Rettew who entered th......
2012-01-12 22:07:00
JENNIFER TODD
Lancaster city business owners can breathe a little easier.
Lancaster city police said Thursday they have nabbed the man they believe was responsible for last week's armed robberies of three city businesses in a roughly 24-hour span.
Police on Monday arrested Juan C. Gonzalez, 45,......
2012-01-12 22:01:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Two people were arrested Tuesday after $600,000 worth of high-grade marijuana and three loaded handguns were found in their vehicles during separate but related traffic stops on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lancaster County, police said.
State police said they found the marijuana and hand......
2012-01-10 12:34:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Marietta man was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, police said.
Jeremie Michael Winter, 23, of 539 E. Hazel Ave., sexually assaulted the girl in a shed next to his trailer April 12 or 13, 2009, Susquehanna Regional police said in a criminal complaint.
Winter w......
2012-01-10 10:56:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police allege an Elizabethtown teenager stole items from numerous unlocked vehicles in Manheim Township.
GPS units, electronics, jewelry and various other items were stolen from the vehicles overnight Sunday, township police said.
Shortly after 11 a.m. Monday, officers stopped Vit......
2012-01-06 22:42:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Lancaster police have arrested one of three men sought in a robbery-extortion-kidnapping investigation.
Chapel Thompson, 27, of the 100 block of Penshire Drive, Manheim Township, was arrested Wednesday and charged with robbery, kidnapping, theft by extortion, criminal conspiracy to commit......
2012-01-06 20:42:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Twenty minutes.
That's all it took for a local jury to convict Santos Rodriguez of stabbing a man during a robbery outside a Lancaster city restaurant in 2010.
Rodriguez, already convicted of killing a man here 15 years ago, is now facing a lengthy prison term when he is sentenced......
2012-01-05 21:56:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A local car salesman is expected to plead guilty this month to homicide in connection with a high-speed test drive that killed a customer in 2010, according to prosecutors.
Michael D. Hershey, the car salesman, had alcohol and marijuana in his system when he got behind the wheel of a Mits......
2012-01-05 11:01:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Lancaster city police said they pulled over Jerome D. Dennison at 3 a.m. Wednesday because the lights weren't working around his license plate.
Turned out the 18-year-old had much more serious problems than just some burned-out bulbs.
Dennison was carrying a loaded automatic handg......
2012-01-03 23:36:00
JENNIFER TODD
Lancaster police have charged two men in an attempted robbery last month during which a gun was fired into an apartment where three children were sleeping.
Police arrested Tyquanne Shamar Johnson, 20, without incident Sunday evening and Clifton Kelvin Hunter, 17, turned himself in the nex......
2012-01-03 23:14:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County's three newly re-elected commissioners were sworn in for their second terms Tuesday morning.
In the afternoon, Republican commissioner Scott Martin was chosen to continue serving as the board's chairman.
"It's been a very challenging four years, but I must say I'm......
2012-01-02 13:55:00
TOM MURSE
A Quarryville man has been charged with running over a pedestrian while drunk, then fleeing the scene as the victim lay unconscious on the ground late Thursday night.
Dustin J. Lewis, 26, of South Lime Street in the borough, turned himself in to police the next morning and was charged wit......
2011-12-31 20:21:00
JON RUTTER
At the dawn of 2011, to borrow from the classic Monty Python sketch, a minute passed. Roughly 525,600 more minutes were to pass before the ball dropped on 2011. A pattern of conflicts, scandals and storms emerged. First came the damage, then the damage control: Weird......
2011-12-30 20:01:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police have charged an East Donegal Township man after they say he pointed a loaded gun at his wife's head, choked her and barricaded himself in his home Thursday night.
Justin David Baltozer, 30, of 346 Pinkerton Road, confronted his wife over a domestic issue, Susquehanna Regional polic......
2011-12-30 11:54:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police have charged a city man with arson after they say he set a small fire in an apartment building on Thursday.
City firefighters and police were dispatched to an apartment building at 130 N. Prince St. for a structure fire about 5:32 p.m., police said.
All of the residents of ......
2011-12-29 23:13:00
JENNIFER TODD
Police have arrested a man accused of robbing a Lancaster Township bank on Christmas Eve.
Derek L. Danz, 33, of South Queen Street, was taken into custody late Thursday morning at a home on West Vine Street, according to Manheim Township police Sgt. Tom Rudzinski.
Danz is charged ......
2011-12-29 16:01:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
After his neighbor died unexpectedly, Mark J. McDonald of Ephrata "gained the trust" of the neighbor's family, local police said.
Family members of the woman who had died came in from other states, and McDonald "claimed he was a close friend of the deceased," police continued.
Con......
2011-12-28 21:55:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Two Lancaster city men have been charged with breaking into more than 20 Lancaster city homes during a widespread, two-month spree.
Once inside the homes, the pair stole everything they could find, from baseball cards to framed family photos, police allege.
They stole more than $1......
2011-12-23 11:32:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Two men were arrested for a scheme involving phony ATM deposits in September and October, police said.
Barry Esser, 19, of 1492 Briertown Road, East Earl, and Colton Buckwalter, 22, of 1286 Division Highway, Ephrata, were charged with theft by deception and criminal conspiracy.
In......
2011-12-23 10:31:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
First, Tyrick Walker beat the other homeless man; then he drowned him in the Susquehanna River.
Walker admitted Friday that's what happened when he and Mark McLaughlin engaged in a dispute at a makeshift homeless camp in West Hempfield Township.
McLaughlin died April 4 at the rive......
2011-12-22 21:27:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police arrested 13 suspected drug dealers in a warrants sweep on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lancaster city, they said.
Javier Gomez, 36, of the 800 block of Wabank Street, was arrested on two warrants for allegedly dealing cocaine, city police said.
Gomez also faces additional charg......
2011-12-21 20:57:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Two women took everything they could find during a weeklong spree of more than a dozen burglaries in southern Lancaster County, police said.
Jewelry, collector coins, laptop computers, firearms — even wrapped Christmas presents — were taken from 16 houses between Nov. 26 and D......
2011-12-20 22:42:00
JENNIFER TODD
New Holland police have charged a 21-year-old Ephrata man for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Ryan S. Showalter of 20 Landis Road was charged Tuesday with two counts each of statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors.
He was arraigned by District Judge Rodney ......
2011-12-20 20:50:00
RYAN ROBINSON and LARRY ALEXANDER
State police have charged a man with robbing the Susquehanna Bank on Route 41 in Gap on Dec. 13.
The suspect, Emory Edward Reed III, 36, surrendered Monday night, according to police. Police charged him with robbery and theft.
The suspect's image was captured by bank surveillance ......
2011-12-20 14:09:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A York woman will spend up to three years in prison for stealing more than $120,000 from a Strasburg fireworks company.
Amy Melissa Ford was office manager at Schaefer Pyrotechnics when she wrote checks to herself by forging the business owner's name.
Ford, 38, recently was senten......
2011-12-16 22:34:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A Marietta man accused of sexually assaulting two underage girls in October now faces new charges involving more young victims.
Daniel Seth Leppien, 35, of 29 W. Market St., Marietta, was charged by Susquehanna Regional Police on Friday for making sexual advances on four more underage gir......
2011-12-16 21:32:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man who police say robbed a credit union in East Hempfield Township on Tuesday is behind bars.
Robert J. Souders, 33, of Lancaster, was taken into custody without incident at the township police department Thursday evening, police said.
Souders was interviewed and admi......
2011-12-14 23:25:00
DAN NEPHIN
The Rev. Timothy Mentzer acknowledged that organizing a public forum on the three suicides at Lancaster County Prison would be controversial, even within his church. But the senior pastor at Trinity Lutheran said the issue was important, and he issued a challenge to the Lancas......
2011-12-13 22:38:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Ronald Gleim pleaded his case before a local judge last month, declaring that his baby girl wasn't harmed under his watch.
Gleim did not argue that the 6-month-old child was deliberately and seriously injured.
But Gleim told Lancaster County Judge Howard Knisely he didn't do......
2011-12-13 22:17:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A 58-year-old Rapho Township man is in Lancaster County Prison after police charged him with more than 100 counts of sexual abuse of children.
John Graham Disney, of 6999 Elizabethtown Road, turned himself in to police on Monday, state police at Ephrata said.
Disney is accused of ......
2011-12-13 13:36:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police have filed charges against five alleged smash-and-grab burglars who were arrested Monday morning, they said.
One was identified as Jonathan Vazquez-Panzardi, 23, who is homeless, West Hempfield Township police Chief Mark Pugliese said.
The other four are boys from Lancaster......
2011-12-09 21:45:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A former Chester County police officer has been charged — for the fourth time this year — with sexually assaulting a child here.
The latest allegations are from a fourth separate victim, officials said.
Michael A. Archacki, already jailed at Lancaster County Prison for......
2011-12-09 21:22:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It's been a bad week for Ardarrius Laguan Williams.
First, the 34-year-old Lancaster man was shot at his home at around midnight Wednesday by an unidentified assailant.
After being treated at the hospital Thursday, he was arrested on Friday by city police, who said they found drug......
2011-12-08 23:29:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster city man has been charged as an adult for committing a felony sex crime when he was a minor.
Angel Montanez, now 23, is at Lancaster County Prison on charges that he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy about six years ago.
Montanez, of 13 Conestoga St., would have been......
2011-12-08 22:09:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Police have accused the former general manager of Penn Cinema of stealing more than $127,000 from the Manheim Township movie theater.
Manheim Township police arrested Andrew Tuzzino, 48, this week and charged him with stealing money for a year and a half through a scheme involving phony t......
2011-12-08 21:50:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Police have accused a trio of women of burglarizing three homes in southern Lancaster County in a single day.
State police suspect the Lancaster city women, who are accused of burglarizing the homes on Dec. 2, of committing other burglaries in the area, according to authorities.
T......
2011-12-07 21:34:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Child pornography wouldn't exist if not for offenders like Matthew Guillory, a local judge said on Wednesday.
"If it wasn't for people like you, this multibillion dollar industry wouldn't be around," County Judge Dennis Reinaker told Guillory at sentencing. "I want you to know your role i......
