A Lock Haven man is suing a casino, claiming that because its staff allegedly served him 15 double Jameson shots over 10 hours, it bears some liability for the beating he later inflicted on his then-fiancée and his subsequent incarceration and post-prison difficulties. An attorney for Nicholas Mullins, who spent two years in prison for assaulting Caitlin Shields in his room at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in 2012, says that employees should not have continued to serve booze to Mullins earlier in the day. “The question is whether Sands served him while he was physically intoxicated and whether that alcohol played a part, however small, in the fight that ensued,” explained Stuart M. Niemtzow. LehighValleyLive.com reports that during the civil trial, Niemtzow used a laser pointer to follow Mullins in surveillance footage, showing him downing shots and, according to Niemtzow, bumping into people and struggling to fish his wallet out of his pants. Niemtzow also blamed the casino for not blocking Shields’ call to Mullins’ room, which began an argument over his gambling. Among the hardships his client has faced due to the casino’s alleged negligence are difficulty dating and finding a job as an ex-con and a return of some of his veteran’s pension. “He’s looking for compensation for what was taken away from him,” said Niemtzow. The casino claims Mullins was treated like any other patron and that the assault happened hours after his last drink. (In criminal court, Mullins claimed he struck Shields in self-defense.)
Christopher Diiorio of Greensburg, who owns a business cleaning up pet feces, wanted women on dating websites to think he was a Secret Service agent, so in March 2014, he spent $100 to buy a fake identification card online from a Chinese company. Then things really spiraled out of control. Prosecutors said that Diiorio, owner of the yard clean-up service Doodle Scoopers, also bought several firearms carried by Secret Service agents, including an AR-15, and used the fake Secret Service card for hotel discounts. The scheme apparently fell apart when a police officer pulled him over for a faulty brake light in July. Diiorio allegedly flashed the card and said he was a “senior special agent in the protective services division” returning from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The officer called the actual Secret Service, initiating a federal investigation. The Associated Press reports that Diiorio, 53, plead guilty to fraudulently using an official seal.
Firefighters rushed to an out-of-commission church in McKees Rocks after neighbors reported seeing flames. They arrived to find 30 people at a fire-eating workshop — or as fire-eater Ed Pinto told a WPXI reporter: “[We were] hanging out and doing our crazy stuff, and some jagoff decided to call the fire department on us.” The carnival-arts enthusiasts insisted that they had permission from the church’s owner to meet there. But because they had no permit, extinguishers or running water, the fire chief decided such an event might be hazardous and ordered the group to disperse.
A 77-year-old Springdale woman awoke to a crashing sound at 1 a.m. and reportedly came downstairs to find a broken window, some knocked-over furniture and a strange woman with flaming-red dyed hair standing in her living room with an armful of food from her refrigerator. Police say the intruder, later identified as 29-year-old Alexis Radovitch, ran off. According to TribLive.com, when officers found her sitting on a street corner, Radovitch reportedly had lunch meat, cheese, ice cream and yogurt in her lap and was munching on bread sticks.
The naked man of Bradford has racked up two new open-lewdness charges. David Loren Springer — who, according to a police report, “has been charged and convicted multiple times in the past for this same type behavior” — was reportedly seen casually walking nude through his neighborhood. Once spotted by police, Springer, 53, allegedly jumped a fence and ran. The Bradford Era also reports that, about a month later, he was arrested after purportedly standing on a sidewalk in the buff for an “extended period of time.”
The Butler Eagle reports that a 29-year-old Butler County man suffered embarrassing, but not serious, injuries when the 9 mm pistol he was wearing while driving an all-terrain vehicle at 2 a.m. discharged into his thigh.
