Man admits fatally beating pastor to fend off sex assault

9-28-15 Pennsylvania:

A homeless man admitted to fatally beating his pastor with a hammer to fend off an attempted rape by the pastor.

Jose Colon, 20, pleaded guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the heat of passion in the death of Luis Herrera (47) this spring in Allentown.

Colon was initially charged with homicide in the case and has been held without bail.

Colon is scheduled to be sentenced next month. Under the plea deal, he faces a minimum of up to 72 months in state prison, and a maximum of up to 20 years.

Attorneys said Colon and Herrera's families knew each other, and they met when Colon moved to the area with his family when he was 10. Herrera was a pastor, whose mission was to help "troubled youth," First Assistant District Attorney Steve Luksa said.

Herrera began "grooming" Colon when he was a child and eventually it lead to sexual contact between the two, defense attorney Kim Makoul said.

State police fatally shoot person while serving warrant, officials say

2-13-2015 Pennsylvania:

READING, Pa. - A cross-country search for a pair of federal fugitives came to an end with deadly gunfire in Reading early Friday morning.

Law enforcement authorities, armed with a pair of arrest warrants, converged on 414 Rehr St. around 4 a.m. to apprehend Richard Carlin and Sherry Gryszkin, both of whom were being sought by the U.S. Marshals, authorities said.

Carlin, authorities said, was arrested after exchanging gunfire with police in South Tuscon, Arizona, on Aug. 17, 2013, but he later made bail and fled the state to avoid prosecution.

The investigation led authorities to learn that Carlin and Gryszkin were hiding out together at the home on Rehr Street. Knowing Carlin's violent history with law enforcement, authorities said they planned to make their move early in the morning.

Berks County detectives and members of the Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) converged on the home, during which time Carlin, 35, refused to comply with officers' demands and was fatally shot by a SERT member, officials said.

'I can't be friends with a rapist,' suspect told Coaldale man before killing him, police say; teen also charged

1-12-2015 Pennsylvania:

The yearlong mystery of Corey Samuels' death in Coaldale was solved Sunday when a man told state police that he and a teenage boy killed Samuels as revenge for an alleged rape, police said.

Oliver L. Trizarri, 21, of Reading and Stanley E. Kralik, 17, of Coaldale were arraigned Monday on charges of homicide, aggravated assault, robbery and theft in the death of Samuels, 24, of Coaldale.

"I can't be friends with a rapist," Trizarri said the night of Jan. 20-21, 2014, after Kralik hit Samuels with a shovel and Samuels pleaded for mercy in the woods near an old railroad bed, according to the police arrest affidavit.

Trizarri told police that, weeks before the killing, Kralik informed him that a female friend of Kralik's said Samuels had sexually assaulted her, according to the affidavit. Kralik wanted Samuels punished, police said.

"Trizarri stated that [Kralik] told him, 'I want to kill (Samuels),'" and Trizarri agreed to help Kralik carry out the slaying, the affidavit says.

Trizarri told police that he and Kralik separated Samuels from his girlfriend the night of Jan. 20 by telling her they were going on a "boys night out" in the woods, the affidavit says.

Samuels was not seen alive again, police said.

He was reported missing to Coaldale police on Jan. 23, but his body wasn't found for nearly eight months. On Sept. 16, two hikers found his remains in the woods off East Miner Street, Coaldale.

Suspect dead after confronting U.S. Marshals with air gun

This is more likely a case of "Suicide by Cop," no one is going to go up against the police with a BB Pistol; he wanted to die in this writer's opinion.

1-6-2015 Pennsylvania:

PITTSBURGH — The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office has released the name of a fugitive wanted on child sex charges who was fatally shot by members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force Tuesday morning in Pittsburgh.

The dead man is 47-year-old Leslie Sapp III.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay says the federal task force was trying to arrest Sapp when he brandished what turned out to be a BB pistol and was shot at his home on Redlyn Street in the city’s Knoxville neighborhood around 4:30 a.m.

McLay says the suspect drew a gun that appeared to be real, prompting one or more officers to shoot in self-defense.

The criminal complaint says Sapp was being sought in the alleged rape of a girl described as a family friend.

Inmate to stand trial for murder

7-22-2014 Pennsylvania:

Lawrence Peterson, 44, who is accused of beating his cellmate to death at SCI Houtzdale, had all charges bound over for court following a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge James Hawkins yesterday at the Clearfield County Courthouse.

Peterson is accused of killing William Keitel, 59, in the cell they shared in the F-Block of SCI Houtzdale on Aug. 2, 2013.

Peterson is charged with criminal homicide, murder in the first degree, murder in the third degree, aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter, and recklessly endangering another person.

Under direct questioning by Clearfield County District Attorney William Shaw Jr., Corrections Officer Duane Hughes testified that on Aug. 2 at approximately 1 p.m. he let Keitel back into his cell after Keitel had finished his shift working in the prison laundry room.

Shortly afterward he heard some inmates yell, "Cell 42, he's killing him." Hughes said he and Sgt. Adam Miles responded to cell 42.

He said it took them about a minute to arrive and through the windows on the cell door, Hughes said he could see Peterson sitting on the lower bunk with Keitel lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Testimony: Woman killed grandfather after catching him peeping on her girlfriend

4-29-2014 Pennsylvania:

Woman allegedly stabbed her grandfather after catching him peeping on her girlfriend.

Chene A. Mejias said she caught her grandfather "pleasuring himself" last month while peeping on her girlfriend in the bathroom of their south Allentown apartment and stabbed him to death, an Allentown detective testified Tuesday.

Mejias, 21, said she continued stabbing her grandfather, 65-year-old Wilson A. Mejias, until he wasn't moving anymore, purposely aiming for his neck because "she knew he would die," Allentown Detective Stephen Milkovits testified. Mejias fled to New York, where she turned herself in to police the next day, police said.

Milkovits was the only witness to testify during Tuesday's preliminary hearing and District Judge Donna Butler found enough evidence existed to send a homicide charge against Mejias to Lehigh County Court.

Mejias told Milkovits she had been walking her dog and returned home around 1 a.m. March 10 when she caught her grandfather standing outside the bathroom "pleasuring himself" while her girlfriend Tiffany Benitez was inside, the detective said.

Police: Member of Penn ‘79 Final Four team killed by wife, she says he had watched child porn

2-12-2013 Pennsylvania:

PHILADELPHIA — A member of the University of Pennsylvania’s 1979 Final Four team was fatally stabbed by his wife, who told police she had caught him looking at child pornography, according to court documents.

Matthew White was found stabbed in the neck around 12:45 p.m. Monday in bed at his home, police said, and was pronounced dead a short time later. An officer responding to the home for a report of a stabbing found White’s wife, Maria Rey Garcia-Pellon, as she pulled into the driveway, authorities said. As she was being taken into custody, according to a police affidavit, she said, “I caught him looking at pornography, young girls. I love kids. I had to do it.”

White was the starting center on the Penn team that went to the 1979 semifinals before losing 101-67 to eventual national champion Michigan State, led by Magic Johnson. White went on to be drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers and also played in Europe.

Garcia-Pellon, 52, was in custody, and a telephone message left at her home was not immediately returned. It could not immediately be determined if she had an attorney.

Investigators said they interviewed a friend of Garcia-Pellon, who told them she had come to her house Monday afternoon and said she had stabbed her 53-year-old husband after catching him viewing pornography — possibly child pornography — on the computer. The friend called police.