Local briefs
Man indicted A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh indicted Kevin Mitchell, 32, of 99 Clarendon Ave., Uniontown, on Wednesday for allegedly defrauding the Nextel cell phone company.
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said the 12-count indictment alleges that Mitchell obtained cell phones in the names of a fictitious entity and another business through a series of misrepresentations.
He then sold some of the phones and collected payments from customers, but did not remit the sales proceeds or the collected payments to Nextel, Buchanan said.
The maximum sentence is 12 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both for each count of the indictment, she said.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which time the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Action pleases Solobay
State Rep. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, said he was pleased that the House of Representatives passed a bill that increases the line-of-duty death penalty benefit for police officers, National Guard members, police officers, firefighters and emergency services workers.
He said the bill would provide death benefits to those who die from a heart attack or stroke within 24 hours of responding to an emergency.
Currently, legislation provides a $62,000 death benefit only to first-responders killed in the line of duty.
The bill would increase the benefit to $100,000 with future increases tied to inflation.
“This legislation would extend line-of-duty death benefit coverage to those homeland heroes who suffer a stroke or heart attack as a result of the emergency they were responding to,” Solobay said. “It also nearly doubles the death benefit for the surviving families of the police, firefighters, Guard members and others who pay the ultimate sacrifice to protect others.”
Grants proposed
State Rep. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, introduced a bill that would provide $25 million in grants to volunteer fire and ambulance companies.
He said the bill would earmark funding for the Volunteer Fire Company/Volunteer Ambulance Service Grant Program, which was funded in the past two state budgets and in 2000, but not in this year’s budget.
Solobay said the state’s 2,500 volunteer fire departments and the 1,000 ambulance companies would be able to use the grants to buy or upgrade equipment, train volunteers, construct or renovate buildings and reduce debt from previous qualified purchases.
“These grants are critically important to volunteer fire companies and ambulances across the state,” Solobay said. “For the past several years, they have helped our first-responders acquire the equipment they need to save lives and property. These grants are necessary to support the good work of our volunteer firefighters and EMTs.”