Homicide witness outlines alleged letter scam
WASHINGTON – Alexander Martos testified Friday that Greg Modery, who is on trial for homicide, came up with a scam earlier this year that could clear them both of charges in the death of Ohio medical consultant Ira Swearingen. Martos said the plan was discussed during a seven-week period this year when he and Modery were held at the Washington County Jail after Martos had entered a guilty plea. The terms of Martos’ Feb. 1 plea spared him from the death penalty in the murder case.
District Attorney John Pettit is seeking the death penalty against Modery, who allegedly was Martos’ accomplice in the murder. Modery, 32, of McMurray, also faces charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, robbery, tampering with evidence and criminal conspiracy to commit each of those acts.
Four days before he took the stand against his high school friend, Martos asked for a meeting with Pettit.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to testify or not. I was thinking of pulling my plea. I decided I had to testify,” he said.
Martos said the meeting with Pettit and his attorneys was to inform Pettit of a scheme he and Modery devised to beat the charges against them.
“While I was in the jail, me and Greg Modery wrote some letters. It was a scam in case I pulled my plea,” Martos said. “The letters were written after my plea.”
Martos said the scam was designed to prove their innocence, with the backdated letters indicating he had been coerced into confessing and that he was receiving special treatment in exchange for his testimony against Modery.
“Debrah Levandosky was supposed to pull her plea. She was the only one really in the whole case that hurt both of us,” Martos said.
Levandosky, who denied in testimony Martos’ claim that she was Modery’s girlfriend, had been charged with tampering with evidence.
She also was charged with theft of services for a telephone scam involving calls from Modery at the Allegheny County Jail.
Levandosky allegedly went shopping with Martos and another codefendant, John Shaker, using Swearingen’s stolen credit cards. She allegedly accompanied Shaker, Martos and Modery to dinner after the shopping spree, with Swearingen’s card used to pay for the meal.
Martos said he wrote several letters at once, and backdated and color-coded them to make it appear they were written at different times. He testified that he wrote seven or eight letters that said Pettit had coached him and that the things he was saying weren’t true, that he and Modery were innocent. Martos said the letters indicated he was under duress because of the death penalty hanging over him and threats from Pettit that he would never see his son again.
“There were a lot of things put in the letters. I can’t recall everything,” Martos said. “I’d stick them all in an envelope and mail them. I’d mail them to Debrah Levandosky. Debbie would give them to Greg’s wife, and Greg’s wife would give them to Greg’s attorney.”
Martos said some of the letters detailed special treatment he allegedly received in exchange for his testimony, including dinners out, a visit to his grandfather’s grave and a visit to his grandmother’s house.
Martos said the only actual privileges he did receive, as negotiated by his attorneys, were two contact visits with family members, and take-out fast food meals would be purchased for him if he missed a meal at the jail because of his interviews with authorities.
Martos said his plea agreement also calls for all the charges other than the homicide to be dismissed once he is sentenced and for as long as he doesn’t appeal the sentence of life without parole. Martos said Pettit made only one other promise to him.
“During that time, it was promised to treat me like a human being,” he said.
Modery’s attorney, Fred Rabner, will begin cross-examining Martos on Monday.
“It remains to be seen if the scam was the fact that he wrote the letters or the fact that he just said that they’re false,” Rabner said.
He also said Martos has the most reason to lie of any of the codefendants, since he has pleaded guilty to the murder.
“If anyone has a motive to lie in this case, not about what they did but who they did it with, it’s Alex Martos. This could cost him his life,” Rabner said.
One of Martos’ attorneys, David DiCarlo, said his client has no reason to worry about the district attorney’s office rescinding the plea agreement.
“The deal was he was going to testify truthfully. As long as he testifies truthfully, he spends his life in prison. It’s what he did today,” DiCarlo said after Friday’s testimony.