Latest news with #LuzerneCountyCourt
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Guilty plea in fatal ATV crash
May 22—WILKES-BARRE — A Nanticoke man pled guilty in Luzerne County Court to charges related to a fatal crash involving an all-terrain vehicle driver in 2023. Richard J. Simon Jr., 40, of West Union Street, was charged by Newport Township police with striking an ATV operated by James "Jimmy" Edward Thiemann, 26, on East Kirmar Avenue on July 30, 2023, according to court records. Thiemann, of Warrior Run, died at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township, on Aug. 5, 2023. Simon, through his attorney, Theron J. Solomon, pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor, before Judge Michael T. Vough on Thursday. Under state sentencing guidelines, Simon could face up to five years in prison but prosecutors did not object to house arrest if Simon is eligible. Court records say Simon, operating a 2004 Hyundai Sante Fe, was traveling on Alden Mountain Road when he was passed by several ATV drivers, including Thiemann. Simon and the ATV drivers changed lanes and varied their speeds with Simon briefly driving off the roadway. Simon then struck Thiemann's ATV that was pushed a distance resulting in Thiemann being thrown to the ground striking his head, court records say. Simon briefly stopped and was allegedly pulled from his vehicle and attacked, before he managed to flee the scene. Police did not charge Simon with fleeing the scene or failure to render aid. Videos of the encounter were recorded on cellular phones by other ATV drivers. In an unrelated case, Simon also pled guilty to a burglary charge as Nanticoke police accused him with entering a house under renovations on West Union Street and stealing tools, a hot water heater and materials on Jan. 24, 2024, according to court records. Vough scheduled Simon to be sentenced July 3. Simon remains free on $25,000 bail.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Suspects in separate homicides charged with intimidating witnesses
Apr. 23—HAZLETON — Two men facing criminal homicide trials in Luzerne County Court for separate murders are facing allegations they intimidated witnesses through jailhouse phone calls. Police in Hazleton City charged Frangel Garcia Andujar, 23, and Reymer Gonzales, 19, with intimidating witnesses to provide misleading testimony and criminal conspiracy. The allegations involve Andujar's criminal homicide case involving the fatal shooting of Stanley Jimson, 17, and injuring four others during a party at a house on South Wyoming Street, Hazleton, on March 6, 2022. In March, Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough continued Andujar's homicide trial after Assistant District Attorney James L. McMonagle announced an investigation of witnesses being allegedly contacted by Andujar and others. Investigators allege they uncovered the alleged plot to intimidate witnesses by Andujar's phone calls from the county correctional facility. Andujar's case has involved contentious court proceedings, including Andujar's preliminary hearing held in May 2022, when two people were ejected from the courtroom, a witness calling an attorney "stupid," a perceived threat toward a witness, and another witness who allegedly displayed gang signs from the witness stand. Gonzales is facing criminal homicide charges filed by the Pennsylvania State Police at Hazleton for his alleged role in the fatal shooting of Rolando K. Cepeda, 18, outside Performance Auto Repair on West 23rd St., Hazle Township, on April 14, 2023. Gonzales allegedly bragged about Cepeda's death during live streams on the social media platforms Snapchat and Instagram, according to court records and testimony during court proceedings. A co-defendant in Cepeda's death, Ismael Valdez Batista, 19, pled guilty to criminal attempt to commit criminal homicide for his alleged role in the deadly shooting. The plea agreement with Batista calls for a sentence of 12 to 24 years in state prison. A third suspect in Cepeda's murder, Eliezer Santana, 18, remains at-large.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Mother to face murder charge for infant's 'accidental' death
Feb. 28—WILKES-BARRE — The death certificate for 1-month old Avaya Jade Rasmus-Alberto list the cause of death as asphyxiation due to mechanical compression and the manner of death as accidental. Despite the accidental death finding by a forensic pathologist, the infant's mother, Natalee Michele Rasmus, 19, will face charges of third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in Luzerne County Court. District Judge Donald Whittaker of Nanticoke forwarded the criminal case against Rasmus to county court following a one-hour preliminary hearing Friday where assistant district attorneys Carly A. Levandoski and Julian Truskowski argued she disregarded safety sleeping practices for her baby. Rasmus, of West Green Street, Nanticoke, was charged by the Pennsylvania State Police at Wilkes-Barre in December alleging she placed her baby face down in a bassinet to sleep against recommendations of medical personnel and pre-natal classes at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center. Rasmus discovered her infant deceased the morning of Oct. 23, 2022, when she picked the baby up to bathe in preparation of a pediatrics appointment. Trooper Caroline Rayeski testified Friday the infant was found in the bassinet slightly on her right side with one arm across the chest and the other arm down to the waist. A Boppy pillow was also in the bassinet. Rayeski said the investigation alleged Rasmus ignored safety sleeping practices for newborns as she placed her baby face down to sleep and the Boppy pillow has a tag warning, "Do not use for sleeping." Rayeski further testified a search of Rasmus' cellular phone uncovered Google searches if it was possible to lay a newborn on the stomach to sleep. Levandoski and Truskowski produced the large Boppy pillow, commonly used to nurse newborns, and the bassinet during the hearing. Rayeski also seized pre-natal literature from Geisinger for parents of newborns stating it is "recommended" to place newborns on their backs to sleep. Chief Public Defender Joseph Yeager who, along with Public Defender Melissa Ann Sulima represent Rasmus, said the death of Avaya was a tragic accident with no criminal intent to harm or kill the baby. Yeager said the pre-natal literature referring to newborn sleep positions are "recommendations," and not mandates. "As the death certificate says, it was an accident. Clearly there was no malice in this accidental death," Yeager argued in an effort to have the entire case, especially the third-degree murder charge, dismissed. Levandoski argued Rasmus "disregarded" instructions from the hospital not to place the infant face down to sleep. "She knowingly disregarded those risks and created an unsafe environment for the baby to sleep," Levandoski argued. Whittaker ruled Levandoski and Truskowski established a case against Rasmus and sent all the charges to county court.
