OHIOVILLE —
A western Pennsylvania woman has been jailed on charges she attacked her son's father with a fork used to roast marshmallows, and bit the man when he tried to remove her from the residence.
Online court records don't list an attorney for 23-year-old Sarah Chambers, of Ohioville Township.
The Beaver County Times reports Thursday that Chambers was arrested shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday when police were called to the residence, where neighbors saw the alleged victim being bitten while he was dragging Chambers outside the house.
Police say Chambers told them, "Take me to jail now" when they arrived to find the man with a cut on his head, a six-inch gash inside his left thigh, and multiple puncture wounds on both legs.
She faces a preliminary hearing June 19.
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3 men jailed, 4th sought in lottery winner robbery
NEW CASTLE — Three brothers are jailed and police were seeking to arrest a fourth man who are charged with robbing and beating a western Pennsylvania man in an attempt to steal a winning scratch-off lottery ticket worth $5,000.
The New Castle News reports Thursday that those in custody are 24-year-olds E. J. and Nicholas Perrine, and 23-year-old Joshua Perrine. Police in New Castle, about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, say they're still looking for the fourth suspect, 27-year-old Christopher Gravatt.
Online court records don't list attorneys for the suspects in the incident reported about 6:30 p.m. June 7.
That's when the winner claims he was beaten by the men before he was able to escape to a hospital where police say doctors found a footprint-shaped injury on the side of his head from being kicked, and eyes nearly swollen shut.
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2 mobile home parks hit with Klan fliers
SARVER — Residents of two western Pennsylvania mobile home parks say they've received fliers from a Ku Klux Klan group that were tossed in sandwich bags weighted down by rocks, including one that cracked a truck's windshield.
The fliers have been reported by residents of parks in Buffalo and Jefferson townships in Butler County, about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Officials believe the rocks were used to weight down the fliers and make them easier to distribute, not to cause damage, because it's illegal to put handbills and similar papers in mail boxes.
The fliers invited people to visit a web site or call a toll-free number to join a group called the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Nobody immediately returned a call to the number from The Associated Press on Thursday.
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Police: Lawyer surrenders in jail drug case
PITTSBURGH — Police say a former western Pennsylvania public defender has turned himself in to face charges he smuggled marijuana into a county jail.
Allegheny County police say Michael Yagercik surrendered to authorities on Wednesday night.
Online court records don't indicate that Yagercik had been arraigned by Thursday morning. He faces charges including drug possession and delivery for allegedly taking marijuana, loose tobacco and rolling papers to a client on May 15.
Investigators say a confidential informant told them Yagercik was paid $500 to deliver the drugs.
Beaver County public defender's office says Yagercik has been fired. Court records don't list an attorney for him.
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DA: Castle doctrine means no charges for Altoona man
ALTOONA — A prosecutor says the state's castle doctrine will keep him from charging a central Pennsylvania homeowner who fatally shot a man who pounded on several windows and acted aggressively late at night
Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio tells The Altoona Mirror that, under the law, Allegheny Township homeowner Timothy Lepore, who is in his 60s, was justified in shooting 24-year-old Brandon Zeth just after midnight Jan. 14.
Zeth died of his wounds a month later and investigators determined he was drunk and yelling threats, demanding to be let inside the home, because he mistakenly believed he was outside his girlfriend's residence.
Zeth's blood-alcohol content was 0.274 percent, or more than triple the level considered legally drunk in Pennsylvania. Lepore shot Zeth three times through a bedroom window.
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Teacher who agreed with sentence files appeal
EASTON — The former teacher who said she agreed with a judge's decision to send her to jail for having sex with one of her students has appealed her sentence.
Former Bangor Area High School teacher Rachel Farrell had told Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano last week that she thought the five- to 23-month sentence was appropriate. But now she wants him to reconsider.
Defense attorney Steven Mills told The Morning Call of Allentown his client is a "polite person" who was "being courteous and noncombative" when she told Giordano she interrupted him at her sentencing hearing to say his decision was appropriate.
The 26-year-old Farrell pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor for having sex with the 11th-grader starting in August 2010.
Farrell is seeking a reduced sentence or house arrest.
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AG charges Texas twins in NW Pa. pot operation
SAEGERTOWN — The Pennsylvania attorney general has charged twins from Texas with heading an operation that shipped as much as 20 pounds of marijuana each month to northwestern Pennsylvania over the last two years.
Online court records don't list attorneys for Marcelino Rodriguez, of Eddy, Texas, and Miguel Rodriguez, from Corpus Christi, Texas, who were charged Tuesday along with five Pennsylvania residents and two more Texans.
State prosecutors say Marcelino Rodriguez was arrested on unrelated drug charges in Crawford County in August 2010, and continued to direct the operation using phone calls from the county prison. Those calls were recorded by law enforcement, which helped lead to the charges.
The brothers are 29 years old and face charges of participating in a corrupt organization, which carries up to 20 years in prison, and other drug-related crimes.
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Police: Partial paralysis didn't stop copper thief
READING — Police say a man partially paralyzed from a shock suffered while stealing copper from an electrical substation faces charges he helped another man in a recent rash of similar thefts.
Authorities in Berks County say Harris Wilkinson lost use of his arm after a high-voltage shock last year. They tell the Reading Eagle they didn't file charges then, figuring his injuries were punishment enough.
But now investigators say he helped another man in a series of break-ins at Met-Ed substations in the county.
Wilkinson allegedly went with Maurice Ohlinger on most of his 19 thefts between April 19 and May 4. Police say Ohlinger asked for Wilkinson's help after learning how he was injured.
Both men face theft and related charges and are being held in Berks County prison.
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Punxy must certify levee to avoid flood plain
PUNXSUTAWNEY — A creekside levee in one western Pennsylvania borough must be certified by federal regulators or most of the community will be declared a flood plain, a designation that could drive up property insurance costs and make building permits difficult to obtain.
The Punxsutawney Spirit reports Thursday that officials in Punxsutawney don't know how much the Federal Emergency Management Agency certification will cost, let alone how much it might cost to improve the Mahoning Creek levee if FEMA deems it not up to par.
Ben White, the manager of the borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, says FEMA will declare 75 percent of the town a flood plain if the levee isn't certified.
Officials say the certification is being required because of levee-related flooding problems caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.
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