September 19, 2019 4:00 am
SHALER TOWNSHIP, Pa. – (WPXI) – A Shaler Township man is behind bars days after his 4-week-old daughter was hospitalized with multiple skull fractures, bone fractures and bruising. Police said the infant was taken to her primary care doctor’s office on Sept. 11 because she had not eaten for nearly two days. According to investigators, the doctor noted that the infant had multiple bruises on her face and abdomen. At that point, the baby was taken to Children’s Hospital in critical condition. While at the hospital, the infant was diagnosed with multiple skull fractures, 19 rib fractures, leg fractures and a left arm fracture. After a brief investigation, police arrested and charged the girl’s father in connection with her injuries. Jamie Easley, 40, is being charged with one count of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children. He is currently being held in the Allegheny County jail without bond. Doctors said the baby’s mother was crying and emotionally distraught the entire time they were with her at the hospital. The mother has not been charged with any crime.
September 19, 2019 3:57 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The parents of a Temple University student who was beaten, stabbed and strangled by a former student two years ago are suing the bar where the two met, and the killer himself. Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi announced the lawsuit Wednesday. The parents of Jenna Burleigh filed the lawsuit against Pub Webb and Joshua Hupperterz. The 31-year-old is serving a sentence of life in prison he was found guilty of murder earlier this year. The lawsuit contends that employees at Pub Webb unlawfully served alcohol to the two although they were both visibly intoxicated. The Philadelphia Inquirer says Pub Webb’s lawyers have asked in court documents for the suit to be dismissed. The lawsuit seeks more than $50,000. Prosecutors said Hupperterz killed Burleigh in his apartment in August 2017, put her in a storage container and took the remains to his grandmother’s home in the Poconos.
September 19, 2019 3:55 am
STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say two people were killed in a small plane crash in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. The wreckage of a home-built plane was found in a swampy, wooded area. The plane, a two-seater called a Van’s RV-8, was discovered around 9 a.m. Wednesday in Monroe County, about 90 miles north of Philadelphia. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane departed Pegasus Airpark near Stroudsburg around noon Tuesday and was reported missing Tuesday night. Chief Leon Clapper of Blue Ridge Hook and Ladder says two people were killed. Coroner Thomas Yanac Jr. says the victims’ remains have been recovered. He didn’t immediately release their identities. Clapper says the wreckage was “buried in the mud.” The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
September 19, 2019 3:40 am
MONONGAHELA, Pa. – A local police officer is facing charges for allegedly using his position to have unwanted sexual contact with a woman, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday. The incident in which Dustin Devault, 47, is accused happened while he served as an officer in Monongahela, officials said. He now works as a part-time officer with the Forward Township Police Department and as a police officer for Highmark. Authorities said the alleged sexual assault happened in a police vehicle while Devault was on duty. Devault allegedly first met the woman in the summer of 2018 during a traffic stop, a grand jury found. The two met and texted several times after. The woman told authorities it was her understanding that Devault was going to help her become a police officer and seek treatment for a loved one who was suffering from substance use, according to investigators. On one occasion that the two met, Devault allegedly showed up in full uniform in an unmarked car. While in the car, the woman claims Devault inappropriately touched her several times and repeatedly asked her to have sex with him. The grand jury found Devault lied to his superiors in the Monongahela Police Department — where he was removed from his position — about his interactions with the woman and encouraged a co- worker to also lie. Devault is charged with indecent assault, official oppression and obstructing the administration of law or other governmental function.
September 19, 2019 3:15 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pittsburgh Pirates closer Felipe Vázquez is being held in a Pennsylvania jail on multiple felony charges after telling investigators he attempted to have sex with an underage girl during a meeting at her house in 2017. The charges are related to Vázquez’s alleged encounters with a girl starting in 2017, when she was 13. Vázquez is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Westmoreland County. He has been in the Allegheny County Jail since surrendering to authorities Tuesday on a felony warrant stemming from illicit electronic communication with the same girl. A state trooper wrote in court papers that Vázquez began talking to the girl on social media before driving to her house in Westmoreland County, outside Pittsburgh. In an interview with troopers last month, she said she got in Vázquez’s car, he removed her pants and tried to have sex with her. On Tuesday, troopers interviewed Vázquez at his residence and wrote that he admitted to driving to the girl’s house and trying to have sex with her. Troopers also said Vázquez admitted receiving explicit photos of the girl by cellphone and texting her explicit messages as recently as July. Pennsylvania authorities began investigating the 28-year-old Vázquez in August after being contacted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The victim’s mother contacted Florida officials after learning of an alleged sexual relationship between Vázquez and a teenage girl living in Lee County, Florida.
September 18, 2019 4:48 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve is cutting rates for a second time this year, while saying it’s prepared to continue doing what it deems necessary to sustain the U.S. economic expansion. The Fed’s move will reduce its benchmark rate by an additional quarter-point to a range of 1.75% to 2%. The action was approved on a 7-3 vote, with two officials wanting to keep rates unchanged and one arguing for a bigger half-point cut. It was the largest number of Fed dissents in three years.
September 18, 2019 4:46 pm
MIAMI (AP) – Tropical Storm Lorena is lashing parts of southern Mexico with torrential rains as it drives closer to the coast and nears hurricane force. Lorena is expected to brush or hit land by early Thursday somewhere between the port of Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Lorena had winds of 70 mph and was moving northwest at 13 mph early Wednesday afternoon. It was located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south-southeast of Manzanillo. By week’s end, Lorena is projected to come close to the the Baja California peninsula’s southern tip. Any rightward movement of the storm’s track could bring it ashore, possibly twice. Mexican officials also say they’re concerned that some parts of southern Mexico, which have seen a lack of rainfall, could now get torrential rains and floods from a combination of Lorena and two other weather systems in the area.
September 18, 2019 3:50 pm
(AP) – Two people with knowledge of the investigation into Antonio Brown being accused of sexual assault tell The Associated Press that one of the accusers has met with NFL investigators and that there is no timetable for concluding the probe. One of the people, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity Wednesday because of the sensitivity of the case, also confirmed that the district attorney’s office and police in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, have reached out to Brown’s lawyer about the allegations Britney Taylor made against the New England Patriots wide receiver in a civil lawsuit. Taylor met with the NFL this week. The person says there is a statute of limitations involved with the allegations. Taylor has accused Brown of sexually assaulting her on three occasions, including rape, in the lawsuit filed in South Florida. A second woman has alleged that Brown exposed himself to her while she was working on a mural for him at his Pittsburgh home. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, but Taylor was identified in the federal lawsuit and was quoted in a statement provided by her lawyer.
September 18, 2019 9:43 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has named hostage negotiator Robert O’Brien to be his new national security adviser. Trump tweeted Wednesday that he has “worked long & hard” with O’Brien and that “he will do a great job!” Trump’s announcement about O’Brien comes a week after he ousted John Bolton from the national security adviser’s post, citing policy disagreements. Bolton was Trump’s third national security adviser. (Photo: CNN)
September 18, 2019 8:50 am
More developments in regards to the Washington County Clerk of Courts office and some $96,000 in missing money. Washington County President Judge Katherine Emery, Tuesday, issued an order setting specific policies for the office to follow when it comes to daily bank deposits. The County Finance Director offered such policies after a Controller’s office audit discovered the missing money and questioned office actions in regards to such deposits. According to reports, the order directs the Clerk of Courts to stick with guidelines for handling such transactions and verifying collections as recommended by the Controller, Finance Director and Court Administrator. The State Police investigation that resulted from that June audit continues. Democrat Frank Scandale is seeking a second term as Clerk of Courts but is being challenged by Republican Brenda Davis.
