SANDRA K. REABUCK
sreabuck@tribdem.com
EBENSBURG —
Judge Timothy Creany on Tuesday refused to reduce the $50,000 bond for a Johnstown woman accused of selling cocaine while out of jail on an unrelated bond as she was awaiting trial in a vehicular homicide case.
Creany, in rejecting a defense motion for a lower bond, noted that 21-year-old Melody Harris faces a mandatory two-year minimum sentence in prison if convicted of selling cocaine in a school zone.
Harris, 21, of the 600 block of Ash Street, was charged by the county drug task force with selling crack cocaine to an informant while they were in a car in Johnstown’s Hornerstown section on May 25.
She had been released from the county prison March 30 after posting $7,500 cash bond in the vehicular homicide case and an additional $1,000 bond in an unrelated aggravated assault case.
In addition to vehicular homicide, Harris faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and related offenses in the Jan. 27, 2009, accident on the Haws Pike that claimed the lives of two Johnstown men.
Police alleged that the Chevrolet Tahoe that she was driving hit a Subaru Outback head-on around 7 a.m.
The other driver, Todd Block, 49, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Block’s passenger, Richard Facci, 62, died Feb. 22 of injuries received in the accident.
Police alleged that Harris and another woman, Edelyn Madalura, were returning to Johnstown from New York and had cocaine with a street value of $20,000 concealed in a purse and a diaper bag inside their vehicle.
Both are charged with drug offenses in connection with the cocaine seized by police.
Harris’ attorney, Paul Eckenrode, and George Bills of Pittsburgh, who represents Madalura, have filed motions to suppress evidence seized by the police.
Eckenrode said Tuesday that Harris, while out of jail, had paid registration fees to begin classes last week at Cambria-Rowe Business College.
He asked that the bond be lowered so that she could get out of jail and begin the classes as she tries “to get her life back on track.”
