Belle Vernon woman charged

A Belle Vernon woman was charged with endangering the welfare of her three children after a police search of her home revealed the children were living in “deplorable conditions,” police alleged.
Southwest Regional Police Chief John Dale Hartman said Monday that Rona Smartt, 44, of Broad Avenue was also charged with possession of a prohibited offensive weapon for allegedly having a dagger in her home.
Hartman said that Fayette County Children and Youth Services removed Smartt’s three children, ages 14, 16 and 17, from the home.
The charges are the result of police following up on an animal complaint, and constables trying to serve a bench warrant on Smartt’s fiancée.
Recently, Smartt was cited for cruelty to animals after police alleged four dogs were living in deplorable conditions at her home.
Police alleged officers from the Fayette County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after they were at the home in mid-April.
Harman said police went to Smartt’s home after calls came in stating that the dogs may have been abandoned. When they checked her home on April 17, police alleged that there was feces and urine throughout the home. Three of the dogs were pit bulls and one was a schnauzer.
Hartman formerly said there was rubbish and waste throughout the home, and that there were mattresses on the floor that the children were using as beds.
Charges were filed before Magisterial District Judge Jesse Cramer.

For more information, see Jennifer Harr’s story in tomorrow’s Herald-Standard.

Pup abandoned on porch

BELLE VERNON — Southwest Regional police in conjunction with the Fayette County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have filed a citation for cruelty to animals against a Charleroi woman accused of leaving a three-month old puppy on a porch in Belle Vernon.
Police said the citation was filed against Ashley Marie Argirakis, 23, after police found the small pit bull on the porch of 203 Wood St. April 15.
The citation was filed before Magisterial District Judge Jesse Cramer.
According to police Chief John Dale Hartman, officers found the puppy at the home of Nicole Lynn Holmes around 2:15 p.m. without food or water and without adequate shelter while investigating a separate incident at the home.
For additional information, see Josh Krysak’s story in tomorrow’s newspaper.

Woman charged with cruelty to animals

BELLE VERNON — A Belle Vernon woman is facing multiple citations for cruelty to animals after police said they discovered four dogs living in deplorable conditions in her Belle Vernon home.
Southwest Regional police said officers from the Fayette County SPCA filed the citations against Rona Smartt, 44, of 35 Sampson St. Friday before Magisterial District Judge Jesse Cramer following the find in mid-April.
Police Chief John Dale Hartman said the citations were filed after police received multiple reports of dogs that were possibly abandoned at the residence.
When officers arrived April 17 to check the home, Hartman said they discovered “deplorable conditions inside the residence, noting that “feces and urine were all over” the house.
For more information, see Josh Krysak’s article in Wednesday’s Herald-Standard.

Belle Vernon man charged with theft of thousands of pills

A Belle Vernon man already in trouble with the law for allegedly hitting a school crossing guard with his car is facing a new set of charges.

North Belle Vernon police said Robert E. Welch, 29, of 122 Nagy St. is facing a host of charges after they found him hiding inside Wally’s Pharmacy on Broad Avenue in Belle Vernon Wednesday morning with a duffel bag stuffed with thousands of oxycodone pills and several-thousand nitroglycerin pills.

Police said when the arrived at the pharmacy shortly before 5 a.m. they found a window smashed out and Welch hiding inside the business.

Police said he tried to barricade himself inside a room in the pharmacy and then fought with police as they tried to take him into custody.
Officers had to use a TASER gun to subdue Welch, police said.

He was charged before Magisterial District Judge Jesse Cramer with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, possession of drugs, possession with intent to deliver drugs, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief, harassment and possession of an instrument of a crime, police said.

For more information see Josh Krysak’s article in tomorrow’s Herald-Standard.