Court briefs
Man to go on trial A Vanderbilt man wants to go to trial for allegedly sending harassing letters to Fayette County Children and Youth Executive Director David Madison.
Ronald Paul West, 41, of 178 Town and Country Road, refused a six to 12-month prison sentence for sending letters that, in one case, told Madison to “Go to hell … and burn their (sic) forever with Satan and his imps.”
State police trooper Donald S. Lucas charged West with one misdemeanor count of harassment and stalking and cited him for a summary harassment violation.
West also allegedly wrote that Madison was under investigation by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for conspiring to overthrow the US government, among other things.
“We in the CIA have our own secret wars and we have just declared war. The Bible says ‘Thou shalt not kill except in war time.’ Goodbye forever,” read one letter.
West allegedly sent the letters to the South Union Township CYS building last May after the agency investigated him and his wife, according to police.
Man to plead guilty
A Uniontown man agreed to plead guilty to robbing Bob’s Sunoco in South Union Township on Aug. 20.
Mark Edward Zooner Jr. will appear next week in Fayette County Court to enter his plea. In exchange, District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon offered Zooner a two to four-year sentence that includes a recommendation for the state prison system’s boot camp program.
Zooner of 29 Clarendon Ave., allegedly went into the store with another man around 4:50 a.m. and attempted to steal money from the cash register. According to the police report, the clerk resisted and the two left.
Zooner is also charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and criminal conspiracy.