Latest news with #PennsylvaniaAttorneyGeneral'sOffice
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trial begins for man accused of murdering pregnant Amish woman
The trial for the man accused of killing a pregnant Amish woman in Sparta Township in early 2024 is set to begin this week. Shawn Cranston, 53, of Corry, is facing charges of criminal homicide for the death of both 23-year-old Rebekah Byler and her unborn baby. According to court paperwork, the trial of 53-year-old Shawn Cranston was delayed after it was expected to start in March, citing new information in the case. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office will be prosecuting the case at the Crawford County courthouse. Monday, we heard testimony from Andy Byler, Rebecca's husband, along with the first trooper on scene and a forensic state trooper. During opening statements, we also learned a possible motive of burglary. Andy Blyer testified that when he came home from work on February 26, 2024, his two children, ages 2 and 3 came running out outside to tell him someone had killed their mom. Andy said he didn't believe them… until he walked up to the door and saw Rebecca's white hat on the floor next to her legs. The jury was then shown a crime scene photo of Rebecca on the floor. Those photos were not shown to the courtroom . Andy said that after discovering Rebecca's body, his driver, Julie, stayed with his kids while he drove Julie's truck to the neighbors to tell them what happened. He then drove back to his house and stayed in the driveway until state police arrived. He never went inside his house. Andy was then asked about a strange incident. He said two weeks before Rebecca's murder, someone came to the house around 10 or 11 o'clock at night. Andy said he got out of bed and went to the door with a flashlight and saw a white man with a bald head and beard walking up to the door. The man said he wanted to buy the Byler's house, but he'd be back the next day. He never came back. When asked if that person was in the courtroom, Andy said, 'I think he's sitting over there,' referring to 53-year-old Shawn Cranston. Andy told the court that after the murder, he noticed his safe was missing from the house. The first Trooper on the scene told the jury about walking into the Bylers' home and finding Rebecca on her back, with a large laceration to her throat, a wound near her hairline and her head in a pool of blood. The Forensic Trooper testified about finding Rebecca's body in the living room area with a bullet hole in her left temple and a suspected knife wound to the neck. He also testified about other evidence, like shoe prints and tire impressions found at the crime scene, along with a small piece of a latex glove found in the Byler's trash. Tuesday, Julie Warner, Andy Byler's driver, is expected to take the witness stand. We're being told the jury will hear the recording of the 911 call she made to report Rebecca's murder. Related Stories: Trial for man accused of killing pregnant Amish woman pushed to 2025 2024 Amish murder case transferred to Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office New information takes center stage in Rebekah Byler murder trial Daughter of arrested suspect reacts to pregnant Amish woman murder case List of seized items released in pregnant Amish woman homicide case Murdered Amish woman suffered injuries to head, neck: investigators Community remains in shock following Amish woman's death, Corry man's arrest Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
AG's office says it seized hundreds of illegal gambling machines disguised as skill games
A sign in a convenience store window advertises skill games, slot machine-like devices. (Peter Hall/Capital-Star) The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday it seized hundreds of illegal gambling machines allegedly supplied to storefront casinos and other businesses by a pair of companies owned by a Pittsburgh man with prior convictions for illegal gambling. The owner is also named in a 2024 grand jury presentment charging a former executive of skill game maker Pace-O-Matic with taking kickbacks for ignoring complaints to the company about illegal gambling machines. The attorney general's office said its agents and state troopers seized more than 400 illegal gambling devices from dozens of western Pennsylvania establishments in a series of raids in March. J.J. Amusements and Buffalo Skill Games are each charged with a felony count of being a corrupt organization, according to court documents. No lawyers for the companies are named in the court filings. 'These devices were essentially slot machines dressed up as skill games,' Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement. 'I commend our partners at the Pennsylvania State Police for helping disband a large-scale operation that netted a tremendous amount of illegal gambling profits.' A search of the companies' warehouse in Homestead, Allegheny County, uncovered $175,000 in cash and other signs of illegal gambling. The facility also had an elaborate surveillance system with dozens of monitors streaming live video and audio from the gambling locations, court documents say. According to the charging documents, skill games are distinguishable from video gambling devices because they require players to use their judgment to win. The machines seized are similar to video slot machines, except that if only two symbols match, the machine prompts the player to 'nudge' the third into place to recover their initial bet plus a small prize, the court documents say. While a spokesman for the attorney general's office said it is pursuing charges only against Conley's companies, court records show Conley was charged last year with illegal gambling offenses by the Cumberland County district attorney's office. An attorney for Conley identified in a court filing did not immediately return a call Wednesday. Federal court records show Conley was convicted of gambling and money laundering in 1995. Conley and his son, John D. Conley, are also named in court documents as the leaders of an illegal gambling enterprise that paid nearly $100,000 in kickbacks to Ricky Goodling, a former state police corporal, who worked as national compliance director for Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic until 2023. A spokesperson for Pace-O-Matic said the company fired Goodling when it learned of the investigation. Goodling is charged with racketeering and related offenses that stem from a years-long state police investigation. Also charged in the case are three employees of Deibler Brothers Novelty Co., a Schuylkill County company that prosecutors say distributed illegal gambling machines in 15 central and eastern Pennsylvania counties. The attorney general's office alleges Goodling took more than $500,000 in kickbacks from the Conley organization, Diebler Brothers and other operators to quash complaints about illegal slot machines. Prosecutors also allege Goodling helped distributors of the illegal devices obtain Pace-O-Matic's machines to attempt to disguise illegal machines and deflect law enforcement scrutiny. A preliminary hearing for Goodling in Schuylkill County is scheduled for May 22. Pace-O-Matic is the predominant operator of skill games in Pennsylvania. A series of court decisions has established that skill games are distinct from gambling machines and not covered by the state Gaming Act. But Pace-O-Matic has been a proponent of legislation to regulate and tax the games to confirm their legal status. Gov. Josh Shapiro said regulating skill games is one of his goals in this year's budget. His spending planestimates taxing the devices would generate around $370 million, recouping money the state lottery and casinos have lost. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Daily Mail
'Macabre way' Pennsylvania funeral home 'handled pets after pocketing $650k' from their heartbroken owners
A Pennsylvania funeral director allegedly betrayed thousands of grieving pet owners by claiming their beloved animals were being cremated when in reality, they were being dumped in a landfill. Patrick Vereb, the 70-year-old owner of Eternity Pet Memorial in Pittsburgh, is accused of pocketing more than $650,000 over three years by charging more than 6,500 pet owners for burial and cremation services. However, the funeral director actually returned ashes from other unknown animals instead, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office. On Monday, Vereb was charged with the improper disposal of thousands of dogs and cats, whose remains were entrusted to the pet cemetery for end-of-life services. 'This case is disturbing, and will cause devastation and heartache for many Pennsylvanians,' Attorney General David Sunday said during a press conference. 'Our pets are members of our families, and this defendant betrayed and agonized pet owners who entrusted him to provide dignified services for their beloved cats and dogs,' he added. 'I commend our investigative team for a comprehensive review of voluminous records which uncovered this long-running pattern of theft and deception.' Eternity Pet Memorial offered two types of services - common burials, when pets are buried together in the cemetery, and private cremation, when a pet is individually cremated before their ashes are swiftly returned to the owner. In the charges filed, the business was said to offer 'cremation services that lay your pet to rest in a way that is dignified and celebrates their life', The Times reported. The cemetery's website reiterated this promise, stating that their cremation service 'allows the ashes to be returned to you'. However, in July and August of last year, staff at the pet funeral home became suspicious when they realized Vereb was allegedly taking in more animals than he was sending off for cremation. 'But he was still charging for the cremation process and providing ashes to the vets and to the individual pet owners for animals that were not actually cremated,' April-Noelle Campbell and Austin Kaminski, agents that worked for Vereb, said, according to The Times. An extensive investigation launched by the Attorney General's Office ultimately uncovered at least 6,500 pets, scheduled for cremation between 2021 and 2024, were never actually cremated. 'Instead of proper cremations, burials and returns of ashes to customers, he took thousands of animals to a landfill for disposal,' Sunday said. 'Thousands of customers who paid for their pet's ashes received ashes from other, unknown animals.' During the investigation, Vereb allegedly told investigators that because the crematorium often 'took too long' to return ashes, he would give owners leftover ashes from another animal to 'make them feel good for the day, if nothing else'. Staff said they frequently observed large dogs scheduled for burial being sent to the crematorium, with investigators suggesting that their ashes were subsequently redistributed to pet owners and falsely labeled as those of their own deceased animals. 'In essence, if an animal was at the crematorium for over a week, Vereb would use the ashes he had on hand to cover for that owner's pet,' the two agents explained. 'Then, when that animal's actual ashes were returned to Vereb, he would use them for another pet.' Common burials, the standard burial service at Eternity Pet Memorial, involved burying remains alongside those of other animals. Yet during the investigation, Vereb allegedly told law enforcement that he had not used pet cemeteries 'in a while' and 'he instead dumped the animals in a landfill'. Agents Kaminski and Campbell eventually cross-referenced the list of pets scheduled for common burial with records from the landfill, uncovering a startling discrepancy. Investigators unearthed landfill receipts showing that the company had dumped more than 170,000 pounds of 'animal carcasses', despite the funeral home only documenting the burial of 490 pets, totaling 27,000 pounds, between 2021 and 2024. 'These records indicate an incredibly large number of animals were being dumped rather than being cremated as promised,' the agents said. Vereb was ultimately charged with felony counts of theft by deception, receiving stolen property and deceptive business practices. However, people are still grappling with the painful realization that the ashes they believed to be their beloved pets' were never truly theirs at all. 'As a pet owner myself I can't imagine the heartbreak in learning that you were affected by a crime like this,' Sunday expressed. Hundreds of alleged victims have turned to social media to express their devastation over the realization, as many begin to piece together the truth of what happened to their late pets. Some have even resorted to weighing the ashes they received, trying to make sense of the heartbreaking betrayal. In one post, a woman shared a photo alongside her late dog, revealing that two of her deceased pets' remains were mishandled as part of the disturbing scheme. 'Please have some grace today as I navigate this form myself, and look for answers regarding what happened to my beloved dogs,' she wrote. 'My heart is shattered, and hurts for not only my own family and dogs, but the estimated 6,500 other families who were also impacted by this heinous act.' Emily Naugle, another alleged victim, shared photos of her dog Sadie to Facebook, saying 'words can't even describe' what Vereb has caused thousands of families. 'To take advantage of grieving pet owners and have no respect to animals that he claims took 'gentle care of' by dumping them in landfills and then sending the pets ashes to the owners is cruel beyond words,' Naugle wrote to Facebook 'To take advantage of grieving pet owners and have no respect to animals that he claims took 'gentle care of' by dumping them in landfills and then sending the pets ashes to the owners is cruel beyond words,' she wrote. 'We do not know yet if this affected our Sadie, we may never know. My heart goes out to everyone who is dealing with this news.' The Attorney General's Office launched a dedicated website to connect victims with their office, as they work together to uncover the truth of what happened to their pets. 'Since the launch of the website, we've had over 3,800 form submissions on the website,' Sunday said, CBS News reported. 'And so that's a lot. We have not seen anything like this before in the AG's office.' Vereb has since been released on his own recognizance but is scheduled to appear in court on May 9 for a preliminary hearing.
New York Post
29-04-2025
- New York Post
Heartless funeral director allegedly gave pet owners random animals' ashes: ‘Devastation and heartache'
A heartless funeral-home director allegedly bilked customers out of more than $650,000 in pet-cremation services — giving them the ashes of random, unknown animals instead of their beloved critters' remains. Prosecutors said Monday that Jacob Vereb, 70, of Vereb Funeral Home and Eternity Pet Memorial in Pittsburgh has been charged with improperly disposing of 'thousands of dogs and cats,' for which their owners had entrusted him to provide cremations and the return of their ashes. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said a funeral-home director pocketed more than $650,000 between 2021 and 2024 for pet-cremation services that were never delivered. Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office 'Vereb took money in exchange for private cremation services, then disposed of many of the pets at a landfill and provided customers with ashes of other, unknown animals,' officials said, according to ABC News. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said Vereb pocketed more than $650,000 between 2021 and 2024 in the twisted scheme operated out of his funeral home, which also provides services for human bodies. An investigation into the business found there had been than 6,500 pet-owning victims across Pennsylvania, from Allegheny, Armstrong, Washington and Westmoreland counties, the outlet said. 'This case is disturbing and will cause devastation and heartache for many Pennsylvanians,' the AG said. 'Our pets are members of our families, and this defendant betrayed and agonized pet owners who entrusted him to provide dignified services for their beloved cats and dogs. I commend our investigative team for a comprehensive review of voluminous records which uncovered this long-running pattern of theft and deception.' The Pittsburgh funeral home, which also provides services for human bodies, is said to have disposed of 'thousands' of dog and cat corpses and then given the ashes of random animals to their owners. Google Maps The attorney general's office has launched a website for victims where they can enter their contact information to receive updates on the case, as well as share impact statements. 'Nearly a dozen veterinary practices and businesses worked with the Office of Attorney General to confirm that Vereb collected at least $657,517 in fees from pet owners who were promised a private cremation for their pet, but did not receive the actual ashes of their pet,' the AG's 0ffice said. 'Eternity Pet Memorial received the pets directly from consumers or through area veterinarians.' Veleb surrendered Monday and was slapped with felony counts of receiving stolen property, theft by deception and deceptive business practices. He was arraigned and released on his own recognizance, the outlet reported.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Yahoo
Pittsburgh funeral home owner accused of dumping pets in landfill instead of cremating them
A Pittsburgh funeral home owner is charged with deceiving more than 6,500 pet owners who paid for burial services, but instead received ashes from other animals, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office announced Monday. Patrick Vereb, 70, owner of Vereb Funeral Home and Eternity Pet Memorial, is charged with improper disposal of thousands of dogs and cats for which owners paid for cremations, burials, returns of ashes, and other services between 2021 and 2024. Following an extensive investigation, the Attorney General's Office identified more than 6,500 victims from Allegheny, Armstrong, Washington and Westmoreland counties. 'This case is disturbing, and will cause devastation and heartache for many Pennsylvanians,' Attorney General Sunday said. 'Our pets are members of our families, and this defendant betrayed and agonized pet owners who entrusted him to provide dignified services for their beloved cats and dogs. I commend our investigative team for a comprehensive review of voluminous records which uncovered this long-running pattern of theft and deception.' The AG's Office said nearly a dozen veterinary practices and businesses worked with their office to confirm Vereb collected at least $657,517 in fees from pet owners who were promised a private cremation for their pet, but did not receive the actual ashes of their pet. Eternity Pet Memorial received the pets directly from consumers or through area veterinarians. Vereb is charged with theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and deceptive business practices. Vereb surrendered Monday afternoon and was arraigned on the charges. He was released on his own recognizance. The AG's office launched a website for victims to provide their contact information, share victim impact statements and receive updates on the criminal case. It can also help concerned citizens to determine if they are also victims in this case. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
