Defendant lived in house bought by his father with ‘musty’ money
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Danny W. Folks of California did not know David J. McClelland, but he knew and trusted his father, David A. McClelland.
So, when David A. McClelland approached Folks about selling his mother’s home, Folks welcomed the offer with open arms. And, he didn’t even think much about the $10,000 in cash, all in musty-smelling $20 bills, that David A. McClelland handed him at the closing on the house.
“I trusted him,” Folks said Thursday during the trial for the younger McClelland who is charged with criminal homicide in connection with the death of 92-year-old Evelyn Stepko of Coal Center.
Folks said he did question David A. McClelland about where he got the money and was told by him that he had hit on two strip tickets and a jackpot at the Meadows Casino near Washington totaling $100,000. As for the smell of the money, the elder McClelland said he kept the cash in his basement.
However, the prosecution provided evidence that none of the McClelland family ever had hit a jackpot at the casino.
Still, on the second day of the trial for David J. McClelland, no sure plan or conspiracy has been presented to prove that he had conspired with his father to steal more than $200,000 from the woman whose body was found in a pool of blood in the basement of her home on July 18, 2011. The defense contends that while David J. McClelland accepted money from his father, he did not conspire to steal it.
David J. McClelland is charged with criminal homicide under the Pennsylvania conspiracy law, which stipulates that a partner in a lesser crime is just as responsible for a more serious crime that another partner commits.
David A. McClelland pleaded guilty in October to first-degree homicide for stabbing the elderly woman to death. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He also received a consecutive sentence of 21 years and 4 months to 42 years and 8 months in prison on charges of stealing the money from the woman.
Meanwhile, David J. McClelland’s stepmother, Diana, was convicted last month of conspiracy to commit homicide, burglary, dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activity and theft, and receiving stolen property. She is awaiting sentencing.
David A. McClelland purchased the home at 12 School St. off of his childhood friend, Folks, in October 2010. Within a short time, his son moved into the house, located midway between his father’s home and that of Stepko.
In addition to providing his son a house to live in, David A. McClelland also bought David J. McClelland a new Pontiac G-6 car and gave him thousands of dollars over a two-year period.
David J. McClelland, along with his father and his stepmother, was arrested July 22, 2011, in connection with the woman’s death. However, it is the younger McClelland who is now facing trial before Washington County Judge John DiSalle on a charge of criminal homicide, along with conspiracy to commit burglary, receiving stolen property and dealing in the proceeds of illegal activities and aiding in the consummation of a crime.
Upon his arrest, David J. McClelland not only agreed to one but two recorded interviews with state police.
During the first questioning, he said he thought he knew where the money his father was giving him was coming from but continued to accept the gifts that came mostly in $20 “musty” bills. In the second interview, the David J. McClelland, who was working as a part-time police officer in Washington Township, Fayette County, said he confronted his father about the money and was told it had been stolen from Stepko’s home.
“I told him he had to stop,” stated McClelland in the second taped recorded interview that was played for the jury Thursday. The younger McClelland, however, admitted to continuing to accept money from his father up until the woman’s death although he knew that it had been stolen.
Meanwhile, state police Trooper Charles Morrison testified that a search of David J. McClelland’s home resulted in the finding in a “multitude of weaponry” valued between $8,000 and $11,000. Investigators also found a stash of newer tools and 40 older $50 bills and one 1950s series $20 bill, all which had a musty smell to them.
The cash is alleged to have come from Stepko’s house where police found more than $80,000 in envelopes throughout her home following her death. The prosecution contends the cash was Stepko’s life savings.
Stepko had lived in the house at 1076 Pike Run Drive “forever,” according to neighbor Donna Huffman, who said she would either see or talk to Stepko on a daily basis. Stepko lived alone for more than 20 years after her husband died.
Huffman called police after she, her husband, Dale, and another neighbor, Loretta Nairn, became concerned about the elderly woman after not seeing her. “We kept an eye on her,” Donna Huffman testified in court.
Testimony in the trial will continued at 12:30 p.m. today in Courtroom 3.