Police and Fire

The following are police criminal complaints filed at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Lawrence County office of Honorable Jerry G. Cartwright. According to a complaint, on November 20, at 7:21 p.m. officers were dispatched to Dollar General in reference to a retail theft in progress. Upon arrival, a store employee advised there was a female stealing numerous items and putting them in her brown purse.  Teresa Ritter, 25, of Ellwood City was taken into custody. When officers asked Ritter to open her purse, there were nine pieces of merchandise valued at a total of $37.75 including a $10.00 Lego Creator Drone….

The following are police criminal complaints filed at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Lawrence County office of Honorable Jerry G. Cartwright. According to a complaint, on Wednesday, October 30th at approximately 1:29 a.m. a traffic stop in Perry Township led to controlled substance seizure. Police stopped a 2011 Chevy Impala for failing to stop at an intersection on Portersville Road at its intersection with Mercer Road and conducted a traffic stop. The operator claimed that she failed to stop because of vehicle braking issues. Officers then asked the male passenger for identification, but when provided by the male passenger, returned no…

The following are police criminal complaints filed at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Lawrence County office of Honorable Jerry G. Cartwright. According to a complaint, on Thursday, October 3 at approximately 7:00am, PA State Police responded to a one-vehicle crash on State Route 168 near the intersection of Patterson Road that led to the DUI arrest of Kevin Walker, 49, of New Galilee. A silver Jeep Laredo was over an embankment and the operator had left the scene on foot. The fire department on scene related to a male in his 40’s, with short hair and a Steelers t-shirt had walked…

According to a criminal complaint, on September 16 at approximately 9:00 am, in a routine patrol, Ellwood City policeman observed old Jason Santellan, 40, of Ellwood City, walking east on Crescent Avenue near Cherry Way. After confirming an active bench warrant for Mr. Santellan, police made contact with Santellan. Police asked Santellan if he had anything on him at which time Santellan provided police with a black box that he stated contained a ‘dab.’ Police took Santellan into custody on the warrant. A search later found one needle in Santellan’s back pocket. The suspect was arrested and charged with use/possession…

PITTSBURGH – A resident of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 10 months imprisonment followed by three years supervised release after the Court found that she violated her probation by committing perjury at a federal trial, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today. Senior United States District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed the sentence on Kacie Zito, 33. According to information presented to the court, on June 12, 2019, at the trial of Taurean Potter, Ms. Zito committed perjury when she denied that Potter provided her cocaine that she later sold. Despite Zito’s false testimony,…