Published: June 02, 2009 11:25 pm      

Police captain accused of assaulting his wife

An East Conemaugh Borough police captain was charged Monday with simple assault and harassment in connection with a domestic dispute.

William C. Gustkey, 64, of Pine Street, Johnstown, was arraigned by District Judge Mary Ann Zanghi of Vinco and released on unsecured bond.

East Conemaugh police who filed the charges said Gustkey allegedly assaulted his wife at the residence Friday night.

Police said he grabbed her by her left arm and “around the ribs.” Her pants also were torn, police said.

She declined medical treatment at the scene.

Police Chief Ronald Pavic said Gustkey “was off until further notice.”

Council President Steven Coy said the charges were just filed and had no comment at this time.

In other police news:

• Eleven unlocked vehicles were entered in Lower Yoder Township, and thieves made off with loose change, a wallet, a purse and two MP3 players, West Hills Regional Police said.

The incidents happened Friday and Saturday on Chester Street, Aspen Way, Norton Road, Furnari Avenue, Rockwell Avenue, Edgewood Avenue and Burkhard Street, West Hill police Chief Andy Havas said.

Thieves also took a pressure washer and two bikes from a front porch on Norton Road, and a 1994 green and white Kawasaki dirt bike from a Furnari Avenue home.

Also, police from Upper Yoder Township and West Hills nabbed a juvenile accused of breaking into a Thermal Avenue home at 4:50 p.m. Saturday and making off with prescription drugs.

The male juvenile allegedly climbed in a window by cutting the screen, Havas said.

The 17-year-old Iron Street resident was found standing on the corner of Emmett and Club drives. He dropped the medicine bottles when he spotted the police cruiser.

Police recovered a plastic bag containing loose change, jewelry and a Master Card belonging to the victim, Havas said.

The suspect was taken to the juvenile detention center in Ebensburg.

• A Johnstown woman was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of children after city police responded to multiple calls about two small children wandering naked along a busy street in the Hornerstown section.

Police on Saturday found a 4-year-old boy and 2-year-old boy who were dirty and with evidence of lacking basic care.

They were taken to Memorial Medical Center and Children and Youth Services was contacted, police said.

A day later, police said they again found the two children wandering the street wearing just shirts. The children were taken to the hospital, police said.

The mother, Lisa M. Cooper, 23, of the

300 block of Pine Street, was arraigned Sunday by on-call District Judge Michael Musulin of Johnstown and sent to the Cambria County Prison after failing to post $75,000 bond.

Police said Cooper cares for four children.

The house where they lived had garbage strewn about the floor, no food in the refrigerator, and dirty clothes and dirty diapers on the floor, police said.

• A Windber man was charged with burglary after police said he stole items from the concession stand at Windber Stadium.

Terry Ned McAfee, 22, was charged with burglary, criminal trespass, conspiracy to commit burglary, disorderly conduct and corruption of minors.

Borough police said McAfee and two male juveniles broke into the stadium concession stand owned by the Windber Recreation Association on May 21. Police did not say what items were taken.

Police said they identified McAfee as a suspect after they obtained a written statement from one of the juveniles.

Charges against McAfee were filed Thursday before District Judge Joseph Cannoni of Windber.

• A western Pennsylvania man accused of hosting militia meetings has pleaded guilty to selling blasting caps to an undercover agent.

Sixty-two-year-old Perry Landis, of Clearfield County, acknowledged selling the caps for $2 each in September 2007 and March 2008.

Landis was charged last June as part of a joint FBI-state police investigation into alleged militia activity.

He will be sentenced Sept. 11.

• The state attorney general has charged six men in a half-million-dollar marijuana ring, including the alleged ringleader, who once dealt the drugs at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

That man, 25-year-old Jeffrey Lecorchick of Erie, remained jailed Monday on a charge of running a corrupt organization and related drug charges.

A state grand jury said Lecorchick sold drugs in Erie and at IUP. Authorities say he continued to deal drugs and supplied five others who did so after he moved to the Pittsburgh area when he graduated from IUP last year.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Lecorchick. He faces a preliminary hearing Thursday.