2008-12-01 09:30:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A Lancaster woman might have had second thoughts after she allegedly stole a pizza delivery man's vehicle late Sunday night. About 15 minutes after city police received word of the 11:35 p.m. vehicle theft at Lancaster General Hospital, officers spotted the missing 1998 Mitsubishi Gal......
2008-11-30 00:16:00
STAFF
A three-vehicle crash Friday night on Route 30, near Hoffmeier Road, Salisbury Township, left a Gap woman dead and three people injured after two of the vehicles burst into flames. The crash happened at 10:30 p.m. Friday. Pennsylvania State Police at Lancaster said a car driven by Ryan Willi......
2008-11-30 00:15:00
JON RUTTER
ARD, the county's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, is a desirable alternative to conviction for driving drunk. It's also a potential option for people arrested for shoplifting, welfare fraud and other first-time, nonviolent crimes. Last Monday, a four-member ARD pane......
2008-11-29 01:19:00
MADELYN PENNINO
A Manheim woman was charged Friday with driving under the influence and other offenses stemming from an October crash that seriously injured her and a passenger, state police said.On Oct. 28, Teresa M. Bush, 30, of Manheim, was driving a 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera west on Mount Joy Road......
2008-11-29 01:17:00
STAFF REPORT
Two sets of tires worth about $3,000 were stolen from Valleybrook Estates on Thanksgiving, Manheim Township police spokesman Sgt. Tom Rudzinski said.On Friday, Rudzinski said eight tires and rims were taken off two 2008 Honda Fits on Valleybrook Drive sometime between midnight and 7 a.m. T......
2008-11-29 00:01:00
A judge in York County recently had to decide if the use of a word — a bad word, as your mother might put it — constituted disorderly conduct on the part of the person who used it.As reported by the York Daily Record, the case involved John Rineholt, a 60-year-old school bus dr......
2008-11-28 11:07:00
JANET KELLEY
Many churches have them. A collection jar tucked somewhere in the back of the church or a Sunday school room, a place where parishioners donate loose change or a few dollars for a special need or project. Since mid-October, police say, someone has been going around to city churches and hel......
2008-11-28 10:16:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A Lancaster man, alleged to be a high-level drug dealer, found police waiting for him when he returned from New York City with more than $100,000 worth of cocaine, investigators said. Bail for Roberto Rafael Taveras-Diaz, who was arrested Thursday afternoon, was set at $5 milli......
2008-11-28 10:00:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A robber struck the Hess Express service station at Gap early Thursday morning, Lancaster state police said. The bandit, who was an unknown male, entered the service station store at 5387 Lincoln Highway East shortly before 4 a.m. and ordered the cashier to remove money from the registers, Troo......
2008-11-28 00:22:00
PATRICK BURNS
Murder suspect Joy O'Shea Woomer is not a career criminal.The East Hempfield resident is a 20-year licensed practical nurse and mother of two who served dual roles as program director and music coordinator at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church.But prosecutors said "interviews and ......
2008-11-27 00:08:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
"America's Most Wanted" is taking another stab at bringing a former F&M swim coach to justice.L. John Trites has been on the lam for a decade since he was accused of secretly videotaping girls in a Franklin & Marshall College locker room in December 1997 and January 1......
2008-11-27 00:07:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
An alleged serial thief who has been swiping purses from elderly women in Lancaster and York counties is now in police custody, investigators said Wednesday.Jeffrey M. Phillips, 36, is accused of snatching purses from shoppers, then using stolen cash and credit cards from the purses to buy......
2008-11-27 00:06:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A 20-year-old Morgantown man who recently graduated high school as an "A student" was spared prison Wednesday despite causing a 2007 crash that killed a Blue Ball woman.Joshua Lee Martin pleaded guilty in September to speeding past a stop sign and colliding with Susan Hoover'......
2008-11-26 10:00:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Two boys started fighting in a hallway at Manheim Township Middle School Tuesday morning, and one of them pulled out a knife, police said. Teachers intervened and took the knife away from a 15-year-old boy. He was sent to the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center after being arrested for a......
2008-11-25 10:05:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
One or more thieves entered an occupied Lancaster Township home on Bentley Lane early Monday morning, stole about $1,900 worth of items that included 13 bottles of wine, and apparently fled in the victim's truck, Lancaster police said. The 57-year-old homeowner slept through the burgl......
2008-11-25 01:47:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A former standout athlete at McCaskey High School was stabbed over the weekend at a bar near the University of Maryland's campus in College Park.Danny Melendez, who went on to play football for four years at UM, was stabbed outside Cornerstone Grill & Loft, just across the street f......
2008-11-24 11:45:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Seven people were cited for disorderly conduct after a weekend fight in a driveway along Fruitville Pike spilled onto the roadway. The fight started shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday, Manheim Township police said, in the 1500 block of Fruitville Pike, near Dillerville Road. Police said they r......
2008-11-24 10:51:00
JANET KELLEY
A fire that destroyed a Conoy Township barn early Sunday morning, causing an estimated $120,000 damage, was deliberately set, according to police. Jay Deiter, of 2040 River Road, Bainbridge, told state police investigators that he woke up around 2 a.m. and noticed "a glow" coming from......
2008-11-23 00:18:00
STAFF
A Ronks woman died Saturday morning after a two-vehicle crash in the 100 block of Ronks Road. East Lampeter Township police reported that Mary Anne Garber, 65, was heading north on Ronks Road when her car struck another car on the driver's side as it was entering the roadway from a drivewa......
2008-11-22 01:12:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster man who stole more than $1 million while serving as treasurer of a local Lutheran church synod was sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison. Barry R. Herr, 61, had pleaded guilty to embezzling funds from the religious organization over a 20-year period. He then used the funds......
2008-11-21 12:56:00
JANET KELLEY and RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man who worked for a local Lutheran church organization for nearly 30 years was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison today for embezzling more than $1.1 million from the religious organization. Barry R. Herr, 61, of 2119 Creek Hill Road, had pleaded guilty in July to steal......
2008-11-21 12:21:00
CINDY STAUFFER
A Northwest Regional Police officer was injured early today as he and other officers arrested a man following a police chase that started in Steelton borough and ended just off Route 283 in Mount Joy Township. Officer Mike Bryant hurt his knee shortly after 4 a.m. during the arrest, as police r......
2008-11-21 01:17:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster County judge ruled Thursday a Mount Joy Township man is a sexually violent predator, then sentenced him to at least 12½ years in prison for sex acts the man committed with eight preteen girls. Frederick T. Shambaugh pleaded guilty in August to 28 sex crimes committed at his R......
2008-11-21 01:08:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A 25-year-old man who was shot by a pair of Lancaster city police officers Wednesday is a convicted drug dealer who was in possession of an illegal handgun at the time of the incident. Charles Robert Lewis was shot multiple times in the 400 block of Manor Street after repeatedly reaching for a ......
2008-11-20 11:18:00
JANET KELLEY
The man who was shot and wounded by police officers Wednesday morning on South Mary Street has had earlier encounters with the law, records show. Charles Robert Lewis, 25, of Union Street, was identified today by city police detectives as the man who fled from police and allegedly reached fo......
2008-11-20 10:59:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Eric West said Lancaster County Prison guards beat him up. Here's how he claimed it happened, according to Jean Bickmire, a representative of the local prison-reform group, Justice & Mercy, and a prison visitor with the Pennsylvania Prison Society. West, a 22-year-old Berks Coun......
2008-11-20 10:07:00
JANET KELLEY
A young East Hempfield Township woman faces a lengthy prison term after pleading guilty to burglarizing dozens of suburban homes. Amanda Ziedonis, 21, of Colonial Crest Drive, pleaded guilty on Tuesday before Lancaster County Court Judge Howard F. Knisely to multiple counts of burglary, theft, ......
2008-11-20 10:00:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Two men rang a doorbell at a West Hempfield Township home and opened fire with BB guns when the occupants looked out a window, township police said. The Tuesday night incidentnear Farmdale was one of several recent assault cases investigated by Lancaster-area police. Ryan Bowden, who lives......
2008-11-20 00:06:00
MICHAEL YODER
Two Lancaster city police officers have been taken off the street and placed on administrative duty after they shot a man multiple times early Wednesday morning who they said was reaching for a handgun.Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said standard procedures regarding a sh......
2008-11-20 00:03:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Timothy Lee Lagrone stabbed Barry Moore Jr. to death last month because of a woman, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Wednesday.Lagrone was angry that Moore had been calling Melissa Downs, who was Lagrone's girlfriend and Moore's ex-girlfriend, a witness testified. Po......
2008-11-20 00:01:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A convicted sex offender was sentenced to at least 7½ years in state prison for fleeing sheriffs and police during a high-speed chase through Lancaster city.Denis Rafael Pagan, 52, of Lancaster, tried last year to run over the sheriffs with his car, then dragged one of th......
2008-11-19 11:20:00
CINDY STAUFFER and JANET KELLEY
City police shot a man they believed was trying to pull a gun on them after he fled from a traffic stop at about 12:15 this morning, the city police chief said. The man, whom police had not identified by deadline today, was shot several times at South Mary and West Filbert streets. He underw......
2008-11-19 11:13:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
More than 20 vehicles at a Manheim Township dealership were splattered with paintballs in one of several recent vandalism and theft incidents investigated by area police. Vandals drove past Drive-Away Preowned, 1255 Manheim Pike, sometime after 8 p.m. Monday and shot paintballs at a row of vehi......
2008-11-19 00:05:00
MICHAEL YODER
A police radio broadcast played a key role in the arrest of a suspected purse snatcher Monday afternoon, officials said.Alerted by the radio call, Manheim Township police officers arrested Jeffrey M. Phillips, 37, no known address, after he allegedly snatched a purse at Giant Food Stores o......
2008-11-19 00:05:00
MICHAEL YODER
A Lancaster man is being sought by Dauphin County police after allegedly kidnapping his ex-girlfriend at knifepoint and threatening to kill her Tuesday morning.Swatara Township police were on the lookout Tuesday night for Robert Baez, 48, of Lancaster, after he disappeared from a Dauphin C......
2008-11-19 00:04:00
MICHAEL YODER
Brian Gilpin has owned Illusion Sound & Lighting for 25 years, and in that time he never had reason to suspect one of his employees was stealing from the business.That was, until early September. When Gilpin two months ago began to suspect a former employee had stolen more than $12,000......
2008-11-18 11:25:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Police played a hunch that led to the Monday afternoon arrest of an alleged purse snatcher who preys on women outside local supermarkets. Jeffrey M. Phillips, 37, found Manheim Township police waiting for him when he walked outside the Kmart store, 1890 Fruitville Pike, with gift cards purchase......
2008-11-18 00:21:00
MICHAEL YODER
When Prince Isaac moved from Queens, N.Y., to Lancaster in 2004, he came with one goal in mind — to take over the drug trade in the city.It didn't take very long, officials said, for Isaac — aka "Boo," aka "Connect," aka "Connetti" — to e......
2008-11-18 01:01:00
JENNIFER TODD
Thieves struck gold when they broke into a Manor Township dentist office last week. About 2 ounces of the precious metal were stolen from the office of Dr. Ernest Witbeck at 1604 Columbia Ave. on Thursday night, Manor Township police said.The gold, used for dental repairs, is worth ab......
2008-11-18 00:58:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Warwick School District fired band instructor Michael Gottier just days after he allegedly had intimate contact with a 16-year-old female band member, according to court documents.That same day, Sept. 29, school officials notified Lititz police about the alleged relationship.The 22-......
2008-11-17 10:22:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
As an East Lampeter police officer was checking him for signs of intoxication Saturday night, a motorist from Lancaster bolted — leaving his two children in the car, the officer said. Jackie Bernard Autry, 48, of 140 Dauphin St., got about 20 feet before he tripped in th......
2008-11-17 12:08:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Two robbery investigations and a shooting kept Lancaster City police busy over the weekend and early today. A man walking to work at Lancaster Regional Medical Center, 350 College Ave., was one victim. As the man neared the hospital at around 4:30 a.m. today, another man walked up to him and de......
2008-11-15 01:45:00
MICHAEL YODER
A Warwick High School band instructor has been charged with corruption of a minor for allegedly engaging in an "inappropriate relationship" with a 16-year-old student.Michael David Gottier, 22, of Kutztown, was charged by Pennsylvania state police after he allegedly met with the ......
2008-11-15 01:34:00
MICHAEL YODER
The former owner and general manager of the beleaguered Holiday Inn on Greenfield Road now face charges of selling alcohol without a license.Jayshul Sharma of Lawrenceville, Ga., who was the general manager of the hotel at 521 Greenfield Road, and Charles Morais, who is listed as the respo......
2008-11-15 01:29:00
STAFF REPORT
Andres J. Chavez, 29, of Lancaster, and Luis Anibal Vargas, 32, of Manheim, were arrested and charged Thursday evening after a Lancaster Safety Coalition camera operator observed the two allegedly engaged in illegal drug activity at 505 Manor St.Police said they discovered Vargas had 82.1 ......
2008-11-15 01:26:00
MICHAEL YODER
A Lancaster juvenile is facing several serious charges after allegedly brandishing a weapon and robbing a group of students outside Lancaster Catholic High School last month.The 13-year-old has been charged by Manheim Township police Det. Brian Freysz with robbery, attempted robbery, posse......
2008-11-15 01:18:00
PATRICK BURNS
Convicted murderer John Wayne Graves Jr. was back in court Friday to learn his fate and hear from the family of the woman he savagely killed.Judge David Ashworth sentenced Graves on Friday to a mandatory sentence of life in prison, one week after he dispassionately declared Graves guilty o......
2008-11-15 01:15:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
One of the two defendants was convicted on all charges in the January 2007 shooting of 7-year-old Brianna Pratt, but the other was found not guilty of the most serious charges.•••The verdict for one defendant in the turf-war crossfire s......
2008-11-14 09:58:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Citizen crime fighters helped Lancaster police arrest four people and recover a stolen handgun Thursday night in the 500 block of Manor Street. Officers Henry Barrie and Thomas Ginder headed to the block at about 11:30 after members of the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition alerted police tha......
2008-11-14 01:34:00
JOHN DUFFY
Manheim Central High School principal Arlen Mummau addressed about 50 parents Thursday night at a meeting called to discuss recent threats of violence at the high school and middle school."The safety and security of your children is my number one concern at all times," he said. &......
2008-11-14 01:25:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Jury deliberations began Thursday over the fate of two Lancaster city men charged in the 2007 shooting of 7-year-old Brianna Pratt.The Lancaster County jury of eight men and four women were given the case at about 2:40 p.m., after closing arguments. They were sent home when a verdict hadn&......
2008-11-13 12:40:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Two 16-year-old boys from Penn Township spent about a month breaking into businesses and stealing vehicles, resulting in losses of $50,000 or more, police said. Most of the criminal activity occurred at businesses in a commercial strip along Route 72, north of the Manheim Auto Auction, police s......
2008-11-13 12:14:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Angel "Fly" Serrano's lawyer said today that Brandon "B-More" McPherson fired the bullet that struck 7-year-old Brianna Pratt last year. "One gun was used," said Michael Marinaro, "not two, and that gun was in the hand of "B-More." Serrano and McPherson, both 25, are charged with attempted......
2008-11-13 11:28:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A Coca-Cola route driver who filled soda machines for the company's Manheim Township plant allegedly stole about $31,000 while making his daily runs, township police said. Township police Sgt. Keith Kreider has charged James M. Oldaker, 33, of 1027 Stargazers Road, Coatesville, with felony thef......
2008-11-13 01:20:00
JENNIFER TODD
A Mount Joy man was charged Wednesday with a weapons violation after police said he left his home armed with an assault rifle.Curtis Daniel Kauffman, 36, of 236 Farmview Lane, left his residence shortly before 5:30 a.m. after a domestic dispute, Mount Joy Borough police said.Officer......
2008-11-13 01:16:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Testimony in the joint trial of two men accused in the 2007 shooting of 7-year-old Brianna Pratt concluded Wednesday after one of the defendants took the stand.From the witness chair, Angel "Fly" Serrano admitted to being a "womanizer" and previously lying under oath, b......
2008-11-12 11:12:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Orlando Baez has spent his 15 years on death row fighting his conviction for raping, stabbing, beating and strangling to death a 22-year-old mother of two young children. But now Baez says he wants to die. The Lancaster man, sentenced to death for the brutal 1987 murder of Janice "Sissy......
2008-11-12 11:39:00
JANET KELLEY
Angel Serrano wrote letters and made phone calls to his sister, lining up assorted women to be his alibi for the shooting of 7-year-old Brianna Pratt in January 2007, a police officer testified today. He told his sister to profess his love and promise marriage to them, to keep them on his side,......
2008-11-11 00:56:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Angel "Fly" Serrano's ex-girlfriend testified Monday in Lancaster County Court that she was directed last year to provide an alibi concerning Serrano's whereabouts when 7-year-old Brianna Pratt was shot in Lancaster city.In a series of letters and phone calls, Serrano ins......
2008-11-11 00:49:00
MICHAEL YODER
A Philadelphia man will face a charge of homicide for allegedly beating his girlfriend to death on a Lancaster sidewalk early Sunday morning.Kenneth Brown Jr., 29, of the 5700 block of Larchwood Avenue, Philadelphia, is to be charged today by Lancaster city police Detective Jimmy Mummau wi......
2008-11-11 00:19:00
TOM KNAPP
A Lititz man was arrested early Saturday morning after leaving his 2-year-old child alone in an unlocked car while drinking in an Ephrata bar, officials said.Ephrata police Lt. Chris McKim said a passerby saw the child in the car and called police at 1:45 a.m. Saturday. Officers who respon......
2008-11-10 11:51:00
JANET KELLEY
Shooting the little girl "was just an accident," the woman said Angel Serrano told her. And it was Brandon McPherson, not Serrano, who did it, Brittany Walter testified this morning in Lancaster County Court. But McPherson and Serrano are both on trial, charged with attempted hom......
2008-11-10 11:13:00
TOM MURSE and JOHN M. HOOBER III
Tonya Jean Fetrow wanted to break off her tumultuous two-year relationship with Kenneth Brown Jr. "I knew they were always arguing, I don't know what about," said Fetrow's father, George Fetrow. "She wanted to end it with him. And I guess he didn't." The 28-......
2008-11-10 10:06:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A Lancaster man was shot in both legs when a fight broke out early Sunday morning at a private party in the city's southeast area, police said. The man, whose identity is not being released by police, was taken to a local hospital. His wounds were not life-threatening, police said. Pol......
2008-11-08 00:41:00
STAFF REPORT
A 17-year-old male student at Garden Spot High School was arrested Friday morning after making terroristic threats to school personnel, New Holland police said.Police, who did not identify the sophomore student because he is a juvenile, said the incident happened at 3:15 p.m. Thursday, at ......
2008-11-07 01:31:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Overcome with grief, Brandon "B-More" McPherson surrendered to police and talked for hours about the gun battle three weeks earlier that had critically injured 7-year-old Brianna Pratt.McPherson told police he fired two shots Jan. 4, 2007, on the Lancaster city street where Pratt......
2008-11-07 01:22:00
JENNIFER TODD
John Wayne Graves Jr. told police his girlfriend had been abusive. In the past, she punched him in the eye, caused him to lose a tooth and burned his belongings, he said.When she dyed her hair black, "that's when she really became crazy," Graves said.Lancaster city pol......
2008-11-07 01:15:00
MICHAEL YODER
Two Lancaster city men were arrested less than 15 minutes after allegedly attempting a mugging with a BB gun early Thursday, police said.Ivan Alberto Rodriguez-Maldonado, 19, of 601 E. Orange St., Apt. 1, and Angelo Echevarria, 20, of 601 St. Joseph St., Apt. 1, brandished a BB pistol in t......
2008-11-06 11:32:00
JANET KELLEY
"I know something that was done," Brandon McPherson told the 911 dispatchers. The recorded phone call, placed about three weeks after 7-year-old Brianna Pratt was shot and critically wounded on a city street, was played to a jury this morning in Lancaster County Court. McPhers......
2008-11-06 11:23:00
RYAN ROBINSON
The Lancaster man accused of killing his live-in girlfriend by setting her on fire rocked in his chair, expressionless, while a policeman detailed the man's story to a judge today. John Wayne Graves Jr., 40, told police after being arrested that he was the victim in the case, not his girlfriend......
2008-11-06 11:20:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
It took Lancaster police about 15 minutes to find and arrest two suspects who allegedly tried to rob a man at gunpoint early today in the 600 block of West King Street. Police got the robbery call at 1:05 a.m. At about 1:20, Sgt. William Hickey spotted two men, matching the victim's description......
2008-11-06 01:06:00
JENNIFER TODD
Prosecutors allege John Wayne Graves Jr. set his live-in girlfriend on fire. Just hours later, he was smoking crack and playing cards and video games, a friend of the accused testified Wednesday.Gregory Mitchell also said Graves was "jittery and drank a lot of beer" at a home on ......
2008-11-06 01:03:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
The former girlfriends of two men charged in the 2007 shooting of 7-year-old Brianna Pratt testified Wednesday that the men admitted to firing shots on the Lancaster city block where the girl was wounded.Sheena Owens and Theresa Punchios gave incriminating testimony against Angel "Fly......
2008-11-05 11:32:00
JANET KELLEY
Brandon McPherson and Angel Serrano were happy, excited and congratulated each other on shooting someone, a Lancaster jury was told this morning. Until they turned on the television news that night and heard that the person they shot was a little girl, McPherson's friend, Sheena Owens, test......
2008-11-05 10:10:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Masked robbers with guns forced their way into an Adamstown apartment, bound and gagged a young woman with duct tape, and robbed her boyfriend, East Cocalico Township police said. The home-invasion robbery happened late Saturday night. The bandits, who remain at large, did not select the ......
2008-11-05 11:20:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Testimony resumed today in the trial of John Wayne Graves Jr., 40, who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Angela Readance, 29, in November 2006 by setting her on fire. First Assistant District Attorney Christopher Larsen called Susan Way, a neighbor of the victim, who testified about Readanc......
2008-11-05 03:17:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
She didn't know his name at the time, but LaToya Thomas told a Lancaster County jury Tuesday that she recognized Brandon "B-More" McPherson last year as he fired the errant shot that critically wounded her 7-year-old daughter.Thomas also said she heard and saw the argument th......
2008-11-04 11:27:00
JANET KELLEY
The two men "were excited...they thought they shot somebody," the prosecutor told the Lancaster County jury this morning. But when they discovered a 7-year-old child — and not the drug turf rival they were fighting — had been shot, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Miller continued, o......
2008-11-04 10:43:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
About a dozen New Holland-area residents have lost items to thieves and house burglars in the past week, police report. The crime spree started last Wednesday night and continued into Monday morning. Thus far, no arrests have been made. The victims, who live in New Hollan......
2008-11-04 00:08:00
JENNIFER TODD
Police and state liquor-enforcement officials raided a private party Saturday at the former Historic Blue Star tavern at 602 W. King St., they said.Entrance to the event, which included alcoholic beverages, required purchase of a ticket, according to a release from the Pennsylvania St......
2008-11-04 00:01:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A local paramedic recounted the indicting words of a dying woman Monday in front of a Lancaster County judge."My boyfriend did this," Diane Ray quoted the woman as saying. "He poured gasoline on me and set me on fire."The powerful testimony came on the opening da......
2008-11-03 11:00:00
JANET KELLEY
Two men were scheduled to go to trial today for attempted homicide in the shooting of a 7-year-old bystander during a gunfight last year. Brianna Pratt was walking to a corner store with her mother on the afternoon of Jan. 4, 2007, when she was critically wounded during the gunbattle, suffering......
2008-11-03 10:15:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Just hours after he was involved in a Sunday morning crash and arrested for suspected drunken driving, a 50-year-old Manheim Township man was involved in another DUI-related crash, township police said. Following the second crash, Michael R. Hufford, of 1407 Fruitville Pike, was committed to La......
2008-11-01 01:22:00
JENNIFER TODD
State police are investigating an incident in which a woman used several old coins to make a purchase from a convenience store last month.Among the coins were a 1964 silver half dollar, four Mercury dimes, a 100-year-old wheat penny, two Canadian coins and a 1955 coin from Denmark, police ......
2008-10-31 10:38:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Lancaster police on Thursday arrested a man as he reached into a chimney top to get some hidden heroin, investigators said. A report of trespassers sent officers to the 500 block of Locust Street shortly before 3 p.m. Two homeless men, Alexander Gonzales Mejias, 21, and John Candelario Ram......
2008-10-31 01:25:00
JENNIFER TODD
Three Lancaster Catholic High School students were assaulted in the school's parking lot Thursday afternoon by teenagers from another school, Lancaster Catholic officials said.The male students suffered minor injuries when they were punched and elbowed, Lancaster Catholic Principal Der......
2008-10-31 00:09:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
The families who lost loved ones in a March crash on Route 30 got their chance Thursday to speak to the drunken driver responsible for the deaths of three men.Sarah Timblin, the 23-year-old Washington Boro woman who was behind the wheel, got the chance to apologize.At a hearing in L......
2008-10-30 11:24:00
JANET KELLEY and AD CRABLE
A young drunk driver clutched the podium in Lancaster County Court this morning, trembling and weeping, as relatives of the three men she killed in a traffic accident gave heart-wrenching speeches about their losses. They told the judge of their pain and their love for the men who were kille......
2008-10-30 10:56:00
TOM MURSE
At some point late Tuesday evening, Joey Herminio Melendez snapped, police say. At some point while babysitting his girlfriend's 18-month-old son, Melendez burned the toddler, kneed him in the face, whipped him with a belt and beat him with a shoe so severely that the child suffered bruises......
2008-10-30 10:38:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Three young men drove through a Neffsville neighborhood early today, throwing heavy rocks at homeowners' vehicles and causing thousands of dollars in damage, Manheim Township police said. Police caught up to the young men shortly after 3 a.m. when a car alarm sounded in one of five damaged ......
2008-10-30 00:39:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Prosecutors said Wednesday they will not seek the death penalty against Michael Roseboro, a 41-year-old funeral director accused of killing his wife in July.Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said the circumstances of the case do not fit the criteria for a death-penalty case ......
2008-10-30 00:34:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
The lifestyle and attitude of a self-proclaimed teenage "gangster" were outlined Wednesday in Lancaster County Court.At the hearing, Kewuan Jones, 17, was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in state prison for a 2007 armed robbery at a Manheim Township convenience store.But before......
2008-10-29 10:45:00
JANET KELLEY
While the insurance agent was helping senior citizens with their retirement funds, prosecutors say, he allegedly pocketed more than $80,000 of their investment money. But Scott Michael Powell, 49, of Palmyra, Lebanon County, picked the wrong senior citizen when he allegedly defrauded a 97-year-......
2008-10-29 01:34:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Two Park City Center patrons were beaten and one was stabbed near a bank inside the mall Tuesday afternoon, according to witnesses and police.The victims, whose identities were not released, were attacked by at least five males near a bank in the South Wing of the shopping center, a witnes......
2008-10-28 11:20:00
JANET KELLEY
A robber held up a Harrisburg Avenue bank this morning, according to emergency dispatchers, escaping with cash as he ran north through the city streets, toward Wharton Elementary School. There were no injuries and no weapons displayed during the robbery, which occurred shortly after 10 at th......
2008-10-28 10:00:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A Sunday morning pursuit in Lancaster Township has led to drinking charges against three young men, city police report. Matthew R. Mellinger, 19, of Lititz, fled from Officer Klete Griffin, who responded to a possible disturbance at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday in the 1400 block of Passey ......
2008-10-28 00:01:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Quick responses by Lancaster city police resulted this week in four arrests in two separate home invasions.• On Sunday, two teenage brothers were charged with a strong-arm home-invasion robbery in the 600 block of South Prince Street. The 75-year-old victim escaped unharmed, and polic......
2008-10-28 00:01:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Police are searching for a burglar or burglars who broke into three Earl Township businesses Sunday.Rocks were thrown into windows of the three businesses, and the businesses were ransacked, police said.New Holland police Detective Jonathan Heisse said the break-ins were report......
2008-10-27 11:11:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Two Delaware women dashed out of an East Lampeter Township store with shoplifted goods on Sunday afternoon, and they left the 11-year-old daughter of one of the women in the store, police said. Nichelle N. Barber, 33, of Wilmington, did return to the store at Rockvale Square to fetch her daught......
2008-10-27 11:13:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Elizabethtown Police say they've nabbed a man and boy who allegedly tried to sell $2,200 worth of items at a local store the same day the property was stolen. The man, Christopher C. Hughes, 22, of Elizabethtown, is a familiar face to police. He was charged in June with having sex with a 1......
2008-10-27 10:29:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
State police are seeking a man who has been indecently exposing himself to females and children in the Honey Brook area of Chester County. Four such incidents happened last week, troopers from the Embreeville barracks reported. The man being sought is a white male with brown or dirty blond......
2008-10-25 01:19:00
PATRICK BURNS
State police at Lancaster arrested a Lancaster city woman early Friday after she led authorities on a 27-mile vehicle pursuit.Police said Charlene P. Yurgaitis, 27, refused to stop when an officer in East Lampeter Township attempted to pull her over for a traffic violation at 3:25 a.m.......
2008-10-25 00:33:00
MADELYN PENNINO
Since an apparent act of vandalism at the GOP headquarters this week, all has been quiet.However, Lois Herr, the executive director of the county Democratic Committee, said people are calling Democratic headquarters daily to report signs being stolen from their property."I woul......
2008-10-24 11:10:00
JANET KELLEY and CINDY STAUFFER
The group ran the Manheim "chop shop," for about five years, prosecutors said, where they refurbished and resold about 60 stolen motorcycles. This morning, it took just a matter of minutes for a Lancaster County judge to sentence each of the five men involved, including sending the ri......
2008-10-24 10:05:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Police found and seized unauthorized handguns from two 19-year-old men the past two nights. Lancaster police approached Christopher Michael Aderson, 1714 Judie Lane, Apt. H, at 12:18 a.m. today in the 300 block of South Lime Street after receiving a complaint about drinking. Police said Ad......
2008-10-24 01:56:00
P.J. REILLY
Dennis Warfel says he's not looking to get heavy-handed with Samuel Fisher.But the Pennsylvania Game Commission's wildlife conservation officer in southern Lancaster County on Tuesday night told a crowd at Bart Township Fire Hall that the longer Fisher sticks to his story that he s......
2008-10-23 11:30:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
Three Reading men made a costly pit stop early today after they allegedly stole a woman's car in Lancaster, police report. About a half hour after the Honda Civic was reported stolen from the 300 block of South Queen Street, the men stopped to get gas at the A-Plus store, 1204 Lititz Pike, ......
2008-10-23 02:50:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A 16-year-old Columbia boy was charged Tuesday with felony aggravated assault for allegedly attacking another boy last week inside a school bus, police said.The boys were on their way home from school Oct. 16 when the incident occurred, according to West Hempfield Township police.Po......
2008-10-23 02:42:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Police charged a Lititz teenager Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly injecting a Manheim Central High School senior with a lethal dose of heroin at a sleepover party.The 16-year-old boy, who was not named because he is a juvenile, also was charged with delivery of heroin,......
2008-10-22 11:45:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Susan Hollinger doesn't feel safe anymore outside her home. "I don't go out after dark. I don't go around with my car doors unlocked. I don't go around without protection in my pocket," said Hollinger, of Stevens, referring to the pepper spray she carries. Holling......
2008-10-22 11:10:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Christy Mirack this week joined Natalee Holloway, Christopher Reyka and Jane Doe, victims of unsolved murders from across the country whose cases are posted on the FBI's Web site. Mirack, a 25-year-old elementary school teacher, was murdered in her East Lampeter Township apartment four days......
2008-10-22 09:49:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A 25-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman are being questioned by police today in conjunction with an early morning shoplifting incident at the Turkey Hill store on Harrisburg Pike, near Race Avenue. Shortly before 4 a.m. today police began pursuing a fleeing vehicle after the shoplifting repor......
2008-10-22 01:12:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
An East Lampeter Township man has been charged with criminal homicide in the stabbing death of another man, investigators said Tuesday.Timothy Lagrone used "brutally excessive deadly force" when he repeatedly stabbed a Manheim man Saturday night inside the accused's home at 2......
2008-10-21 11:11:00
TOM MURSE
The deal was to go down behind a remote self-storage shed off Route 283 in the early morning hours today, under the cover of darkness. A couple of guys said they wanted to sell some of their more than 40 leather saddles, all told worth as much as $40,000 — and apparently stolen from a ......
2008-10-21 11:00:00
CHAD UMBLE
An East Lampeter Township man has been charged with homicide in the fatal stabbing of a Manheim man following a fight on Saturday night. Timothy Lee Lagrone, 25, was charged late Monday with criminal homicide in the death of Barry Moore Jr., 38, of South Charlotte Street, Manheim. Lagrone ......
2008-10-21 10:12:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A report that beer cans were being thrown out of a car that was traveling without headlights led to West Hempfield Township police arresting three 16-year-old boys on drinking charges early Monday morning. Cpl. Tim Coyle stopped the 1998 Chevrolet sedan at 2:51 a.m. at Marietta Aven......
2008-10-21 02:08:00
PATRICK BURNS
Police on Monday arrested two male students whom they allege planned an attack on Hempfield High School students.East Hempfield Township police took the boys into custody after two people reported a conversation that allegedly occurred Friday on a school bus. In that conversation, the juve......
2008-10-21 02:00:00
JENNIFER TODD
The death of a Manheim man who was beaten and stabbed, allegedly during a fight Saturday evening at an East Lampeter Township home, has been ruled a homicide, officials said Monday.An autopsy performed Monday showed that Barry Moore Jr., 38, of South Charlotte Street, died from multiple st......
2008-10-21 01:52:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Two young victims of sexual assault confronted their assailant with harsh words Monday in Lancaster County Court.Richard M. McFalls was sentenced to 10 years of probation at the hearing, after the two sisters he assaulted in 2005 berated the defendant for ruining their lives.McFalls......
2008-10-21 01:50:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster city man with a criminal history dating to the 1970s was sentenced Monday to at least 10 years in prison for breaking into an occupied home last year.Larry G. Griffin, 50, was convicted by a jury in July of entering a North Plum Street home while a teenage girl and her infant s......
2008-10-20 11:17:00
AD CRABLE
No cougar attacked a 42-year-old Sadsbury Township farmer on Oct. 9, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which said today it may file charges against the man for making false or fraudulent statements. The alleged attack on Samuel Fisher, of 71 Mount Pleasant Road, Quarryville......
2008-10-20 11:04:00
JANET KELLEY
A man was sitting with a woman on the front porch when police arrived Saturday night on a report of a fight in progress. "Who was fighting?" the policeman asked the couple. "Him and the guy in there," the woman answered, pointing to the man beside her, Timothy Lagrone....
2008-10-20 10:51:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
A man with a baseball bat assaulted two men over the weekend in a North Queen Street parking lot, Manheim Township police said. Shortly before 9 p.m., Friday the suspect assaulted a 41-year-old man while going through his pockets in a parking lot north of West Liberty Street in the 900 block of......
2008-10-20 00:21:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Manheim man was beaten and stabbed to death during a fight Saturday evening at an East Lampeter Township home, investigators said Sunday.Investigators say Timothy Lee Lagrone and Barry Moore Jr. got into the fight just after 7 p.m. inside 2001 Pine Drive.Moore, 38, who recently li......
2008-10-17 11:12:00
JANET KELLEY
Who would suspect a teenage girl with a toddler in the back seat of her car was selling thousands of dollars worth of cocaine while parked outside pizza shops around Lancaster County? And who would suspect a Lititz couple, the parents of three young children, were high-level dealers operating a......
2008-10-17 11:22:00
RYAN ROBINSON
City police have identified the officer who took his own life early Thursday morning. David P. Odenwalt Jr., 26, died of a single gunshot wound to his chest, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said today. The coroner ruled the manner of death was suicide. "Family members ......
2008-10-17 01:12:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
The "troubling" behavior of a convicted sex offender was outlined in Lancaster County Court Thursday before a judge ordered the man back to state prison for at least four more years.A county judge sentenced Robert J. Fink, originally convicted in 2001 of indecent assault of a per......
2008-10-16 11:00:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III
House burglars have been busy in the north end of Columbia. Within the past week, thieves entered separate homes in the 800 block of Purples Lane, 800 block of Spruce Street, and 800 block of Chestnut Street, Columbia Police Chief Joseph F. Greenya reported today. The Spruce Street homeown......
2008-10-16 10:59:00
TIM MEKEEL
A former bank executive has been charged with stealing customer identities to take out $712,000 in fraudulent loans for himself. Manheim Township police on Wednesday charged George L. Clayton Jr., who was vice president of commercial lending at Union National Community Bank when he allegedly......
2008-10-16 01:35:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A man who served 20 years for a 1987 killing in Lancaster city was arrested Tuesday night in Reading and charged with dealing cocaine.Pablo Morales, aka Pablo Morales-Torres, a Cuban immigrant, was out of prison less than a year before Reading police arrested him and charged him with selli......
2008-10-16 01:31:00
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Freeman May has again been sentenced to die for killing a young Lancaster County woman in 1982.The sentence, handed down by a Lebanon County jury Wednesday, marks the third time the Narvon man has been given the death penalty for the murder of 22-year-old Kathy Lynn Fair. Fair's skelet......
2008-10-16 01:27:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Authorities charged a former county bank executive Wednesday with stealing three of his customers' identities to obtain loans worth more than $700,000.George L. Clayton Jr., 27, forged the customers' signatures and signatures of his employees at Union National Community Bank in Man......
2008-10-16 00:36:00
P.J. REILLY
Fighting crime is not just a police matter, says Lancaster County Commissioner Scott Martin."I get asked often, 'What does crime fighting have to do with the county of Lancaster?' " Martin said. "It's really got everything to do with the county. We're the cat......
2008-10-15 01:20:00
JENNIFER TODD
Some might view it as "gun control," but Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray calls it a common-sense approach to keeping track of firearms that does not infringe on the rights of responsible gun owners.An ordinance proposed at Tuesday's City Council meeting would require city gun owner......
2008-10-15 01:14:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
An East Hempfield Township man was allegedly sitting in a stolen SUV in possession of crack cocaine when Lancaster city police confronted him on private property Monday night.Guyland Ucherrengos, 25, of Travelo Drive, was at Lancaster County Prison Tuesday charged with felony receiving sto......
2008-10-15 01:11:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A side effect of presidential elections is the proliferation of campaign signs decorating lawns.Invariably, some of those signs end up missing when supporters of one candidate take offense to such a visible show of support for the other side.Given the contentiousness of this year......
2008-10-14 11:17:00
JANET KELLEY
A businessman fought off two robbers as he closed his city grocery store just after midnight, police said. The businessman had locked up his store in the 500 block of Manor Street, police said, and was about to get into his car early this morning when he was approached by two men, one of whom w......
2008-10-14 10:42:00
JANET KELLEY
A young woman told police a man followed her from West James Street into Linear Park and exposed himself to her as she was walking to a store Sunday morning. Shortly after 10 a.m., police said, the woman told them she had noticed the man talking to her in an attempt to get her attention as she ......
2008-10-14 00:31:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A McCaskey East High School student called 911 from inside the school Monday morning and said there was a bomb in the building, police allege.The student, a 16-year-old junior at McCaskey East, was charged with two misdemeanors for allegedly making the threatening call, which was placed ju......
2008-10-14 00:27:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A masked gunman robbed a South Prince Street grocery store Sunday night, Lancaster city police said.The robber, a black man in his early 20s, entered Latin Grocery at 601 S. Prince St. about 8 p.m. and demanded money, according to investigators.Police said the robber pointed a black......
2008-10-14 00:25:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Manheim Township police charged two Lancaster County residents Monday in connection with separate thefts.Jay Oslund, 52, of Lititz, was charged with seven felony counts of forgery and eight counts of misdemeanor theft for stealing checks from a home he was repairing.Oslund was hired......
2008-10-14 00:23:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Two Lancaster County men have been charged with felony aggravated assault for separate incidents this weekend in and near a city bar.One of the assaults happened late Saturday inside Picasso's Bar at 701 E. Walnut St., police said. The other was committed the next night, they said, by ......
2008-10-13 10:24:00
JANET KELLEY
A Peach Bottom man entered a city home through an unlocked door Sunday night and seemed determined to stay, according to police, fighting with the homeowner who tried to get him to leave. Shortly after 11 p.m., police said, Nicholas Jared Boos, 23, of 436 Black Barren Road, Peach Bottom, left a......
2008-10-13 00:08:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Lancaster County judge sentenced a Columbia man to at least one year in prison for stealing more than $225,000 from his church.Paul B. Hines, former treasurer at the small St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Columbia, pleaded guilty in July to a dozen felony theft charges. He a......
2008-10-13 00:06:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A local semiprofessional boxer was sentenced Friday to 4½ to 10 years in state prison for a vicious attack that left a man in critical condition.Jeremy Stauffer, 28, of Lititz, pleaded guilty in July to felony aggravated assault for severely beating an East Lampeter Township man wit......
2008-10-11 01:15:00
MICHAEL YODER
A late Friday evening shooting in the southeast section of Lancaster left one man wounded and neighbors rattled.Police were dispatched to the 500 block of Juniata Street at 7:15 p.m. on a report of shots fired.When officers arrived at the scene they found one male lying in the stree......
2008-10-11 00:49:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A former Warwick High School band director pleaded guilty Friday to having a series of sexual trysts with a student between 2006 and 2008.Todd Sheerer pleaded to six misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors for having the relationship, beginning in January 2006, when the female student w......
2008-10-10 11:19:00
JANET KELLEY
Sexual abuse and severe beatings. Shabby clothes, sniffing glue and extreme poverty. Tales of a horror at home and humiliation at school. A Lancaster County killer's background was described to a jury this week as they are asked to decide — once again — whether he s......
2008-10-10 11:20:00
JANET KELLEY
It was a car-jacking of sorts early this morning in Manheim Township. Except that instead of a car that was stolen, it was a motorized scooter. A young city man told police he borrowed a friend's scooter around 12:30 to go to a convenience store in the 800 block of New Holland Avenue....
2008-10-10 01:32:00
JENNIFER TODD
A man who allegedly robbed a PNC Bank near Brownstown on Thursday morning was taken into custody 40 minutes after he walked out of the bank with an undetermined amount of cash, police said.Michael Daniel Popalis, 40, no known address, was captured by police in the parking lot of Cloister S......
2008-10-09 11:12:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A middle-aged man walked into the PNC Bank branch at Schaum's Corner with a glove on one hand and a plastic bag and walked out with cash shortly after 8 a.m. today. But his good fortune was short lived. The man, who had not been identified by deadline, was being held by police about......
2008-10-09 11:20:00
JANET KELLEY
A former Warwick High School band director, accused of having a sexual relationship with a student, is scheduled to plead guilty Friday afternoon in Lancaster County Court. Todd Sheerer — charged with six counts of corruption of minors by police in Lititz and Manheim boroughs, and Warwick......
2008-10-09 10:56:00
JANET KELLEY
A former Lititz man wept this morning as he apologized to a Lancaster judge for possessing and disseminating images of child pornography and erotica through his home computer. "I'm ashamed that I have to be in front of you today," Peter Thayer Ringer, 38, formerly of Sante Fe Drive, told Judge ......
2008-10-09 02:17:00
JENNIFER TODD
A federal grand jury indicted a Lancaster County man Wednesday for allegedly taking sexually explicit photographs of children.Daniel Earl Eyster, 48, of 4 Cameron Court, Adamstown, is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children for incidents that investigators say happened be......
2008-10-09 02:13:00
JENNIFER TODD
When Shareen Gonzalez returned home from running errands Tuesday evening, she saw an upstairs light on and assumed her younger sister was home.But as Gonzalez reached the foot of the stairs, calling her sister's name, she looked up and saw a strange man standing at the top of the stair......
2008-10-09 02:06:00
PATRICK BURNS
A quick response by police and Terre Hill Borough residents helped land an Ephrata man in jail Tuesday a little more than an hour after police say he pulled a lunchtime bank robbery.Investigators allege a masked Samuel Lee Martin, 36, walked into Susquehanna Bank, 100 W. Main St., Terre Hi......
2008-10-09 02:01:00
MICHAEL YODER
A Lancaster man is in prison after allegedly attempting to sell cocaine to an undercover officer outside the city police station last week.Byron Eugene Folk Jr., 20, of the 600 block of Emerald Drive, was charged with one felony count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine on Oct......
2008-10-08 11:59:00
JANET KELLEY
More than six years ago, in September 2002, an East Hempfield couple went to bed and left their ill child in the care of a nurse. The next morning, Mark and Carol Weaver were awakened by the nurse running up the stairs repeatedly yelling that their 11-year-old son, Brent — who had gone......
2008-10-08 11:09:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Eleven motor homes were robbed early this week in one block in Clay Township. In a separate incident, a thief stole a 22-foot-long trailer from a business in Rapho Township. They were among the latest thefts and burglaries police have reported across the county. Clay Township Police s......
2008-10-08 02:30:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A nurse was charged Tuesday with causing the death of a chronically ill East Hempfield boy while caring for him in 2002.Joy O'Shea-Woomer, 48, of Valley Drive, was charged with criminal homicide and two other felonies for giving 11-year-old Brent Weaver a "lethal dose" of mor......
2008-10-08 02:07:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Elderly couple unharmed but rattled after midday crime.•••An elderly southern Lancaster County couple were the victims of a home invasion Tuesday afternoon, state police said.Three men invaded their Bart Township home, but the co......
2008-10-08 01:52:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Two groups of young men have been charged in a pair of armed robberies this week in Lancaster city, police said Tuesday.Two teenagers were charged with robbing a man Monday night in the 700 block of North Shippen Street. Davonte Butts and Christopher Cruz — both age 15 — will b......
2008-10-07 13:34:00
JACK BRUBAKER
State police caught a gunman about an hour after he robbed a Blue Ball bank today, according to a spokesman at the Lancaster State Police barracks. The suspect's name was not immediately available. The suspect held up the Susquehanna Bank, formerly Blue Ball Bank, at 1060 Main St., ......
2008-10-07 11:12:00
JANET KELLEY
Ten minutes after a city man was robbed at gunpoint early Monday evening, city police had several suspects in custody. Two of the suspects, Davonte Butts and Christopher Cruz, both 15, have been charged with robbery and conspiracy, police said. And the teenagers are being charged as adu......
2008-10-07 10:48:00
JANET KELLEY
A Lititz man was arrested early Saturday morning after he waved a hammer and threatened other patrons outside a tavern, police said. Christopher Scott Akers, 36, of 107 S. Broad St., was charged with simple assault and public drunkenness, police said, after he allegedly tried to start a fight i......
2008-10-07 09:56:00
RYAN ROBINSON
The Harrisburg Senators baseball player accused of having sex with a 15-year-old Elizabethtown girl waived his preliminary hearing Monday. Garrett Guzman, 25, of Columbus, Ohio, now awaits a pre-trial hearing in Lancaster County Court. No date has been set for that hearing, a spokeswoman f......
2008-10-07 12:16:00
STAFF
A gunman robbed an East Earl Township bank shortly before noon today, according to county emergency radio dispatchers. The suspect held up the Susquehanna Bank on Main Street, according to dispatchers, about 11:50 a.m. Police dispatchers described the suspect as a white man, 6-foot-3, with......
2008-10-06 11:17:00
STAFF
An man who police believe was an innocent victim was shot outside his home Sunday night. The 22-year-old man, whose name is being withheld by police, is listed in stable condition at Lancaster General Hospital, according to Sgt. Todd Umstead. Neighbors said the man was not the intended tar......
2008-10-06 00:07:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A 22-year-old Lancaster city man was shot outside his home Sunday night, according to police and witnesses.Neighbors said the man, who was not identified, was not the intended target and was struck by a bullet as he stepped outside of his home in the 100 block of Church Street.City ......
2008-10-06 00:05:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A suspected drunk driver crashed her car into a utility pole early Sunday in Fulton Township, toppling it and downing electrical wires, officials said.Ashlynn Becker, 22, and her passenger, Douglas Trauger, 32, sustained minor injuries in the 5 a.m. crash in the 700 block of Nottingham Roa......
2008-10-04 01:06:00
MADELYN PENNINO
Police said a Lancaster city man was intoxicated when he crashed his car into a residence on Beaver Street early Friday morning.Darrell Robinson, 40, drove into a home at 243 Beaver St. shortly after 3:30 a.m. Friday, according to Lancaster city police spokesman Sgt. Todd Umstead.No......
2008-10-03 01:46:00
JEFF HAWKES
One evening in March 1992, shots echoed across a playground, and 18-year-old Debbie Rivera fell dead with a bullet to her head.The horror of her killing was compounded when police discovered the shooter was only 13.Richie Cruz of Lancaster, joined by three teens, went to settle a gr......
2008-10-03 00:59:00
JENNIFER TODD
Two jewelry-counter robberies that occurred less than an hour apart Thursday morning might have been committed by the same man who robbed a jewelry store Wednesday, police said.Lancaster city police Detective Lt. Kent Switzer said "similarities, plus the close proximity of the inciden......
2008-10-03 00:54:00
PATRICK BURNS
Justice for bank robbers in Lancaster County can be swift and harsh.Police tracked down and arrested Derwin J. Matthews of Lancaster on Dec. 20, 2006, less than a day after he grabbed a few thousand dollars from the Bank of Lancaster County branch at 25 N. Duke St.Jeffrey L. Ziegler......
2008-10-02 11:16:00
JANET KELLEY
A thief threatened and robbed a jewelry store clerk Wednesday afternoon at a Route 30 outlet store, escaping with only one, "very expensive" item, police said. Around 3:30 p.m., the man walked into the Kay Jewelers store at Tanger Outlet and asked the female clerk if he could lo......
2008-10-02 11:10:00
JANET KELLEY
A robber escaped with two diamond rings from a Park City Center store late this morning, according to city police dispatchers. Shortly before 11 a.m. today, clerks at the JCPenney store told police a man stole the jewelry and escaped in an older-model, burgundy-colored, four-door sedan....
2008-10-02 09:34:00
JANET KELLEY
A Perry County town has agreed to pay two girls $20,000 each for the alleged sexual misconduct of one of its policemen, formerly of Lancaster County. Robert J. Pavlovich Jr., 39, is scheduled to stand trial later this month on charges stemming from alleged sexual misconduct involving 15 girls w......
2008-10-02 00:42:00
TOM KNAPP
A registered sex offender has been taken into custody after failing to provide police with a current address, police said.An arrest warrant was issued for William Nelson Schickel, 53, whose last known residence was in the 2800 block of Scenic Drive in East Hempfield Township, after police ......
2008-10-02 00:36:00
TOM KNAPP
Five cars collided Tuesday in a chain-reaction crash, New Holland police said.No one was injured, but one motorist was cited with careless driving.According to a news release from borough police Chief John V. Yost, the vehicles were traveling west in the 700 block of East Main Stree......
2008-10-01 00:35:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A member of a local multimillion-dollar cocaine-dealing cartel was sentenced Monday to 9 to 16 years in state prison.Adalberto Rivera-Diaz, 35, was the main runner in a New York-to-Lancaster cocaine ring that was disbanded in 2006 when agents with the Attorney General's Office began a ......
2008-09-30 21:02:00
STAFF REPORT
Police are looking for a missing East Hempfield Township man who is a convicted sex offender.William Nelson Schickel, 53, whose last known address was in the 2800 block of Scenic Drive, has failed to provide a current address with the Pennsylvania State Police, which is one of the requirem......
