Published: September 26, 2009 12:10 am      

N.J. man accused of selling crack

JOHNSTOWN — A New Jersey man living in Johnstown has been arrested by the Cambria County Drug Task Force for allegedly selling crack cocaine in the city’s Hornerstown section and in Richland Township.

Maurice “Mo” Taylor was taken into custody Thursday by task force officers with the assistance of the FBI, township police and the county sheriff’s office, District Attorney Patrick Kiniry said.

Taylor, described as a mid-level dealer, was taken into custody in a parking lot along Theatre Drive, Kiniry said. The suspect was distributing crack cocaine with a weekly street value of $1,000, Kiniry said.

Officers seized crack with a $2,000 street value and more than $1,000 in cash during the arrest. The arrest culminated a two-month investigation, the DA said.

Taylor, 30, who was living in the 400 block of Messenger Street, is from Passaic County, N.J., the task force said. He was arraigned before District Judge Rick Varner of Sidman and placed in the county prison in lieu of $150,000 bond.

In other police-related news:

• Donald J. Scotilla, an Ebensburg resident and Cambria County’s Court administrator, was described in stable condition with facial injuries at Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown, his office reported Friday.

Scotilla, 74, was injured by a tractor-trailer while he was crossing South Center Street in Ebensburg after leaving the courthouse shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday.

Ebensburg Borough police said Scotilla had just left work at the courthouse and was walking toward his vehicle, parked in the lot across the street. Traffic was congested and moving slowly, police said.

Scotilla appeared to have been crossing between a tractor-trailer and a passenger vehicle when traffic started to move again. Scotilla was struck by the rig.

The driver of the rig was identified as Michael Catinella of Melbourne, Fla. Police said Catinella was hauling produce and was traveling to Home in Indiana County to pick up another shipment when he became lost due to the bridge construction on Rowena Drive.

• A Somerset man has been charged with sexually molesting a teenaged girl while she was asleep on a couch when he was watching her and a younger boy.

Paul Eugene Enos Jr., 27, was arraigned before District Judge Douglas Bell of Meyersdale and released on unsecured bond. He is charged with indecent assault and child endangerment.

A preliminary hearing will be held Monday before District Judge Art Cook.

• Cambria Township police are investigating the theft of a green Kawasaki ATV from the Ebensburg Yamaha on Wednesday or Thursday.

Police said the dealership is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible. Anyone with information may call the police at 472-6040.

• A Bolivar man and his wife have been scammed out of an undisclosed amount of money by callers claiming to be their grandson and a Canadian police officer wanting money for the grandson’s release from jail, the state police said.

Police said the man and woman, both in their 80s, received several calls from a caller posing as their grandson saying he had been arrested in Canada and needed money for bail.

A second caller, who identified himself as “Officer Green,’’ instructed them how and where to send the money, police said.

The police said that these victims sent money four times.