Sandra K. Reabuck
sreabuck@tribdem.com
EBENSBURG —
A former Cambria County man who was on the run from North Carolina authorities when he was captured in Johnstown waived extradition proceedings Thursday in county court.
He can be returned to North Carolina to face attempted homicide charges.
Peter Donald Huff, 68, was wanted in the brutal beating and robbery of his elderly aunt and uncle
July 12 in Asheville, N. C. He was apprehended in Johns-town late July 19 when his pickup crashed into a utility pole on Franklin Street as he was being pursued by U.S. marshals and city police.
Judge Timothy Creany told Huff that by his waiving extradition, North Carolina authorities would not have to come to Cambria County to prove Huff’s identity and show that he was in that state at the time the crime was committed.
District Attorney Kelly Callihan said, “Because the charges down there are more serious (than here), it made sense for North Carolina to go first.”
Cambria prosecutors will wait to see whether Huff is convicted there and what sentence he receives before deciding about bringing him back to Pennsylvania to face the charges here, Callihan said.
Assistant District Attorney Wayne Langerholc said that city charges stemming from the police chase would be on hold until the attempted homicide case is concluded.
Langerholc said Cambria will have a detainer for Huff so that he could brought back to face local charges.
Those charges include attempted aggravated assault for allegedly ramming his truck into a city police cruiser during the chase. The officer was not hurt, police said.
The judge told Huff that North Carolina authorities have 30 days in which to pick him up and transport there.
Huff’s $100,000 bond on Cambria was reduced to recognizance so that he could be released from the prison here, Creany said.
Huff, dressed in red prison shirt and pants, showed no visible sign of injuries he received in the crash. He had been admitted to Memorial Medical Center, where he was arraigned on the Cambria County charges July 20.
Huff, who formerly lived in South Fork and in Bedford County, has a long criminal record that includes bank robberies in Cambria and Somerset counties.
He is accused of assaulting Harold and Victoria Huff, both in their 80s, with a short-handled sledgehammer and robbing them before fleeing.
