PITTSBURGH (AP) – A 16-year-old boy has died days after police said two fellow group home residents severely beat him, and police were expected to add homicide charges once results of an autopsy were complete.
Nicholas Grant died Tuesday night at UPMC Mercy hospital. He had been on life support after the attack Saturday at the Circle C Group Home in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.
Police have charged as adults a 15-year-old and 16-year-old with aggravated assault and attempted homicide. Online court records don’t list attorneys for the teens, who remained jailed Wednesday and were scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the initial charges on Friday. Authorities have named the boys, but The Associated Press does not generally name juveniles charged with crimes.
The attack at the Circle C Group Home in the city’s Carrick neighborhood has also prompted investigations by the state Department of Human Services, which licensed the group home, and Allegheny County, which contracts with the facility.
The home issued a statement Wednesday expressing sadness for Grant’s death and said, “Our focus has always been on providing safe environments for our residents and staff and that will never change.” The home said it’s working with authorities to investigate the incident “and are reviewing all of our systems and processes.”
The home has room for nine boys aged 12 to 18 who have been referred by the county’s Children Youth and Family Services agency or juvenile probation, county officials said.
The youths are charged with attacking the victim sometime before 10:30 p.m. Saturday after he returned to the home following an earlier argument with the 15 year old.
According to criminal complaints filed by police, the argument between the alleged victim and the 15 year old resumed and became physical before the 16-year-old suspect joined in.
The victim threw a vacuum cleaner at the 15-year-old, who allegedly put the victim into a chokehold while the 16-year-old hit him with the appliance, police said.
The home uses a “hands-off” policy in which its staff is trained not to physically restrain residents, according to state records. Police said an employee called 911 to report the beating, and that paramedics had to resuscitate Grant at the scene before he was taken to a hospital.
Marc Cherna, director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, said he can’t speak specifically about how or why Grant left the group home or returned.
But, Cherna said, boys at such facilities frequently go AWOL or run away and, when that happens, they’re usually returned to the same facility. There will be no children living at the home while authorities investigate the alleged attack.
“I would say this is the most serious incident that I can recall between residents of one of our group (homes), or one of our residential facilities, in my 19 years here,” Cherna said.
Sentencing set for scheme costing Pennsylvania firm $415K
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A western Pennsylvania man faces sentencing for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his former company by submitting invoices from a phony company.
Forty-five-year-old Peter Kalemon, of Aliquippa, was scheduled for sentencing Wednesday before a federal judge in Pittsburgh.
He pleaded guilty Monday in September to mail fraud in the theft of almost $360,000 from Matthews International Corp. The losses have since been calculated at $415,000.
Authorities said Kalemon was hired in 2007 as traffic manager and had approval of invoices as part of his duties.
Prosecutors said he submitted 126 invoices from a bogus firm he created called Alltrans Logistics with a post office box in West Virginia to collect the money over three years.
Authorities said the scheme was discovered in April 2013, when the company fired him.
7 in Pittsburgh-area, all with other problems, dead from flu
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Allegheny County Health Department says seven people have now died from the flu in the Pittsburgh area, but all were at least 55 and had other health problems.
Still, officials say this is one of the worst flu seasons in recent memory. Some 500 people have been hospitalized because of the flu, up from about 300 last flu season.
Those who have died are men and women and have ranged in age from 55 to 100.
Kristen Mertz, a medical epidemiologist with the health department says, “Unfortunately, we are expecting more deaths.”
Health officials are still recommending that people get vaccinated and otherwise use common-sense methods, like washing their hands more frequently, to avoid the virus.
Ex-police chief gets reduced sentence in sting case
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A judge has reduced the sentence imposed on a former southwestern Pennsylvania police chief convicted of extorting nearly $8,000 from undercover FBI agents he thought were drug dealers.
A federal appeals court in September ordered the new sentence for 58-year-old Donald Solomon, ruling that a judge wrongly calculated federal sentencing guidelines in imposing a term of more than 11 years.
Solomon was resentenced Wednesday to seven years, three months in prison – exactly four years less than the original term.
The former East Washington Borough chief pleaded guilty in January 2013 to extorting $7,800 from the agents in exchange for protection during two staged drug deals and a promise to buy them police-issued stun guns.
Cops: W. Pa. cleaning ladies stole police credit union data
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh police say two cleaning ladies stole confidential information from the department’s credit union.
Bonnie Hendzel and Mary Tumminello were each charged Tuesday with 32 counts of identity theft.
They remained jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail. Online court records didn’t include information on their lawyers.
Police say the 50-year-old Hendzel and 27-year-old Tumminello considered using the stolen Social Security numbers and other data to open credit card accounts and buy and sell merchandise, but thought better of it.
Police say Hendzel turned over 32 stolen files Monday out of fear after officers searched her home.
The credit union says nothing suggests Hendzel and Tumminello used the files to commit identity theft. It’ll provide affected customers with a year of credit monitoring.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 26.
Deportation looms after judge declares Obama action invalid
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Honduran man whose case led a federal judge in Pittsburgh to declare President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration unconstitutional will be sentenced next week and eventually deported.
U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab has scheduled 42-year-old Elionardo Juarez-Escobar’s sentencing for Jan. 22. He’s charged with illegally re-entered the country after a 2005 deportation.
Juarez-Escobar last month rejected Schwab’s offer to withdraw his guilty plea or serve a year of probation while remaining in the U.S. and fighting deportation.
He was arrested for drunken driving in April and has been in custody since July.
Schwab says Obama’s November order designed to spare millions living illegally in the U.S. from deportation amounts to “unilateral legislative action” in violation of the Constitution.
The administration says the policy doesn’t apply to criminal cases.
Man convicted of 2000 slaying rampage appeals
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A former lawyer convicted of the slayings of five people during a shooting rampage in 2000 that authorities say targeted ethnic minorities is asking a federal court to grant him a new trial.
Richard Baumhammers, 49, once a Mount Lebanon immigration attorney, has been on death row since his conviction on charges in the western Pennsylvania rampage in Pittsburgh and Beaver County.
Prosecutors say he shot a Jewish neighbor to death and set her house on fire, then attacked others at a Chinese restaurant and an Indian grocery, painted racist graffiti, and fired into two synagogues. He was also convicted of wounding a sixth person who was left paralyzed and has since died.
Defense attorneys cited several arguments for appeal in a petition filed Monday, including allegations that prosecutors withheld a psychiatrist’s report until the trial started and that prosecutors flooded the defense with last-minute evidence but the judge rejected a motion to delay the trial.
They also argue that Baumhammers’ trial lawyer was ineffective, specifically for not aggressively challenging a prosecution expert witness who said Baumhammers wasn’t schizophrenic. In addition, they argue that jurors only heard parts of conversation suggesting that Baumhammers was motivated by racial hatred rather than the larger context that they say would have shown he was mentally ill.
The Allegheny County district attorney’s office said prosecutors are preparing a response to the petition.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected Baumhammers’ appeal last spring, and Gov. Tom Corbett in October signed an execution warrant, which triggered an automatic federal appeal.
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