BRENTWOOD — GREENSBURG – Police believe whoever stole two pythons from a private school in Greensburg is keeping them as pets because nothing else was taken.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the snakes were stolen from the K.A.R.A.T. school.

The school’s name stands for Kinetic Approach to Relevant Academic Teaching, and it serves students deemed to be disruptive in other educational settings by providing “hands-on” learning techniques that stress how students can use the things they learn in real life.

School officials believe the pythons were stolen sometime over the weekend by someone who pried open a door at the school.

One snake is about 3 feet long, the other is about 1 foot.



Woman gets probation for fake cancer claims

WASHINGTON – A woman who submitted $94,000 worth of fake cancer treatment insurance claims for her and her husband must repay that money while she serves nearly nine years on probation.

The Observer-Reporter report says 52-year-old Deborah Brown, of North Strabane, was sentenced Tuesday by a Washington County judge.

Brown pleaded guilty in August to submitting the phony claims from August 2006 through May 2008.

Brown’s husband really did have prostate cancer, but didn’t receive any of the treatments Brown claimed after surgery cured him in November 2006. Brown was diagnosed with lipoma, a noncancerous condition in 2007, but submitted 29 false claims for liposarcoma – a cancerous condition that affects fatty tissue.

Brown says she’s addicted to painkillers but sobered up since her arrest last year and is remorseful.



Man fined for killing horse in state park

QUINCY – A man cited for shooting a horse and leaving its carcass in a state forest says he had taken the animal for a final ride when it collapsed and had to be put down.

Paul Yeager pleaded guilty Monday and must pay an $800 fine for shooting the animal last month in Michaux State Forest in Quincy Township, Franklin County.

Yeager says in the Chambersburg Public Opinion report that he’d wanted to take the horse, named Dice, for one more ride before having him euthanized because of a neurological disorder.

Yeager says the horse began having difficulty and collapsed during the ride, so he shot it. Hunters discovered it the next day.

Yeager says he routinely carries a handgun while riding, for protection and in case his animal is hurt.



Woman acquitted, then convicted in DUI case

EASTON – A woman acquitted by a jury in a drunk-driving case was convicted minutes later on a lesser charge by the judge overseeing the case after saying he accepted testimony apparently rejected by the jury.

Northampton County Judge Michael Koury convicted 25-year-old Jessica Trump of the lesser DUI charge Tuesday shortly after a jury cleared her on a second-offense drunk driving charge.

Trump testified she wasn’t the driver of the car spotted double-parked by police in Freemansburg in July. Trump and other witnesses said she had gotten in the driver’s seat to retrieve some bags when the designated driver for the evening was unlocking the house.

The Morning Call of Allentown report says Trump’s attorney vowed to appeal.

Trump was the subject of a story by The Morning Call after she had to surrender her license as a condition of bail in her case.



Police: SUV that hit Pittsburgh bank was stolen

PITTSBURGH – Authorities say the sport utility vehicle crashed into the front of a Pittsburgh bank had been stolen.

Police are searching for the driver who crashed the vehicle into the front of a downtown PNC Bank on Tuesday, then fled the scene.

A police bomb squad shut down streets in the area as a precaution.

No injuries were reported. The SUV had been stolen from a mall a few miles away.

Investigators say they’re trying to determine if the crash was an accident or intentional.



Pittsburgh cops probing three food delivery robberies

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh police are warning food delivery drivers to take precautions after three of them were robbed at gunpoint in four days in the same neighborhood.

The latest was a broad-daylight heist about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday on the city’s North Side.

That pizza delivery driver wasn’t hurt but gave up an undisclosed amount of money to a single robber.

Similar robberies were also reported on Saturday and Sunday, both involving two robbers.

Those drivers were accosted late at night, with the robbers taking money, food and a cell phone on Saturday, and only money on Sunday. The driver robbed Sunday was also hit in the back of the head with an unknown object, but refused medical treatment.

The owner of at least one pizza business in the area says he’ll stop delivering to certain streets until the robbers are caught.



Dairy linked with raw milk illnesses reopens

CHAMBERSBURG – A central Pennsylvania dairy connected with 43 illnesses in four states has resumed bottling raw milk after an 11-day shutdown.

The Family Cow dairy in Chambersburg began bottling again Tuesday. The dairy had been shut down since illnesses were first reported late last month.

Officials say confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection include 36 people in Pennsylvania, four in Maryland, two in West Virginia, and one in New Jersey.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture cleared the dairy to resume production on Monday after series of inspections.

Farm owner Edwin Shank says he’s installing lab equipment to test for E. coli every time the dairy bottles raw milk.

Shank says he’s hurt by the illnesses suffered by his customers and wishes for their full recovery.

 

Victims want long sentence in $6M Ponzi scheme

PHILADELPHIA – Victims of a suburban Philadelphia businessman who admitted running a $6 million Ponzi scheme want him to spend a long time behind bars.

Ira Pressman pleaded guilty in July to federal charges related to the fraud scheme he ran between June 2006 and February 2011. KYW-AM reports Pressman’s victims described him Tuesday as a schmoozing con man who targeted friends, business associates and church members.

Court documents allege Pressman ran a company that purported to purchase and sell closeout and overstock merchandise. But prosecutors say most of the deals were fictitious and Pressman used new investors’ money to pay returns to old investors.

Pressman’s sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue Friday.



Erie to pay $207K in firefighter’s firing lawsuit

ERIE – The city of Erie will pay nearly $207,000 to a firefighter who was wrongly dismissed following a 2006 suicide attempt in which she set clothes on fire in a bathtub.

U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin tallied the award a day after a jury found that Mary Wolski’s firing violated the Americans With Disabilities Act because she was being medicated for depression in December 2006. Wolski was distraught over her mother’s death and set the fire at her father’s vacant home.

The Erie Times-News report says Wolski must be rehired to the next available post, and receive nearly $183,000 in back pay. She’s also due nearly $24,000 insurance premiums, penalties for IRA withdrawals and money she took out of her pension fund while unemployed.

The city had argued that arson was a legitimate reason to dismiss her.

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