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.
September 18, 2019 5:56 am
DETROIT (AP) – A 34-year-old man has been arraigned in the slayings of four women whose bodies were found in vacant houses in Detroit. Deangelo Martin’s case went before a 36th District Court magistrate Wednesday afternoon. Hours earlier, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office announced he is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of felony murder. The bodies were found from February 2018 to June this year. The victims were in their 50s. Police have characterized the deaths as the work of a serial killer. Martin was arrested in June. He’s also charged in the stabbing and sexual assault of a woman and the kidnapping and assault of another. A probable cause conference on the murder charges is scheduled for Oct. 2. A preliminary examination follows on Oct. 9.
September 18, 2019 5:54 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea has gone through with plans to drop Japan from a list of countries receiving fast-track approvals in trade in a tit-for-tat reaction to a similar move by Tokyo to downgrade Seoul’s trade status amid a tense diplomatic dispute. South Korea’ trade ministry says Japan’s removal from a 29-member “white list” of nations enjoying minimum trade restrictions went into effect Wednesday. The move comes a week after South Korea initiated a complaint to the World Trade Organization over a separate Japanese move to tighten export controls on key chemicals South Korean companies use to manufacture semiconductors and displays.
September 18, 2019 4:22 am
Township growth means expansion of emergency services and North Strabane Supervisors are on top of that expansion with the continued development of the fire department’s substation #2. North Strabane Township Manager Andrew Walz explains that a new substation is needed in the Eighty Four area of North Strabane Township because their insurance carrier determined that response times needed to improve in that area. That coupled with the fact that the area is beginning to be developed and Walz expects development to continue for several decades, a new substation is in order. Supervisors expect to award the bids next week and ground will be broken shortly after. If no significant delays are encountered, Walz expects to have the new substation operating in late spring of 2020.
