ifredregill@altoonamirror.com
An Altoona man is facing felony theft charges after allegedly writing multiple bad checks to purchase firearms.
James I. Preusser, 46, was arraigned Wednesday by Magisterial District Judge Paula Aigner on several charges including theft by deception and writing bad checks, according to Blair County court documents.
Between August and December, Preusser allegedly purchased six handguns from a business in Duncansville by writing checks with insufficient funds in his bank account, police reported.
The business owner sent Preusser a letter in December, requesting the missing funds and granting him 15 days to provide the money, a criminal complaint stated.
ifredregill@altoonamirror.com
An investigation at the Blair County Prison revealed drugs, cellphones and tobacco were smuggled into the jail in October with the help of an inmate’s wife, court documents stated.
After monitoring inmate James McCleary’s phone calls, Warden Abby Tate informed Hollidaysburg police of a plot to sneak prohibited items inside the jail through the laundry facility where James McCleary worked, police reported.
When questioned about the plot, James McCleary allegedly told Tate that his wife, Chasity, was scheduled to drop off drugs outside the prison’s garage door, which leads to the laundry room, court documents stated.
ifredregill@altoonamirror.com
Two Altoona men were charged with burglary Thursday after police responded to a call on Fourth Avenue and found one of the men bleeding from a head wound, court documents stated.
Albert W. Marini, 59, and Wayne Williams, 51, were arraigned Thursday by Magisterial District Judge Paula Aigner on multiple charges, including burglary, criminal conspiracy to engage in burglary and criminal trespassing, according to court documents.
The Altoona Police Department reported that officers responded to a burglary in progress about midnight Wednesday, and discovered Williams and Marini standing outside the residence in question.
Blood was streaming down the side of Marini’s face, and he told police a person inside the residence struck him in the head with a metal pipe, a criminal complaint stated.
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Greg Werstil, a Duncansville-area businessman, five years ago offered to help his neighbor, James Peters, who owns Best Way Pizza, repair a wall separating the two properties, but, what occurred next, Werstil says, is “insane … surreal … truly surreal.”
After the repairs were underway, a zoning officer for the borough took notice of the “fence being constructed or reconstructed,” and ruled that while fences are allowed in the borough, permits for them must be obtained under the borough’s Zoning and Floodplain ordinances.
Werstil was cited on May 25, 2015, for violations of the ordinances, sparking a long court battle that concluded Monday with a ruling by a three-judge panel from Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court that upheld a $100 fine and an award of $4,695 in legal fees paid by the borough to litigate the alleged violations.