(Photo Courtesy of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) A woman was apprehended for possessing crack cocaine and using a fake identity on March 3rd, 2025. Aliquippa Police stopped Rebecca Welch near Highland Avenue and State Route 51 during operation of a traffic stop. Welch had a bench warrant that was active for her arrest from the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office and did not provide police her real name. Welch was taken to the Beaver County Jail and charges were filed against her for both drug possession and false ID.

(Photo Courtesy of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) Aliquippa Police apprehended a man who had an arrest warrant on March 4th, 2025. The Beaver County Sheriff’s Department gave an active bench warrant to sixty-five-year-old Willie Pierce. Police saw Pierce at Towne Towers in Aliquippa during the day of his arrest. Pierce is now in the Beaver County Jail.

(Photo Courtesy of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) A woman got a disorderly conduct charge after a fight between juveniles occurred in Aliquippa on March 4th, 2025. Thirty-five-year-old Marcy Brown is the mother of one of about seven to ten juveniles who both fought and caused a distrubance near Linmar Terrace and Waugaman Street. Brown was involved in a different disturbance. A fifteen-year-old female juvenile was also given a disorderly conduct charge for not following commands to break up the fight.

(File Photo of Police Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Darlington Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver report that an unidentified female driver caused a single-vehicle crash in Darlington Township on March 4th, 2025. Police were investigating a hit and run on Elizabeth Street that day at around 4:30 p.m. The woman hit the vehicle into the rocks of her yard near the road during the crash. No leads of investigation were identified.

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Military personnel search for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, March. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) The parents of missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki are asking that their daughter would be announced deceased after she disappeared in the Dominican Republic. It has been since March 6th since she was last seen in Punta Cana. The passport of Joshua Riibe, who was the last person to allegedly see Konanki was confiscated. The attorney of Riibe requested release for him on Monday and according to an official, a judge is expected to issue a ruling today.

(File Photo of the American Red Cross Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania is encouraging people to donate on March 26th on Red Cross Giving Day. You can give financially or give either platelets or blood to those that need them. During March, those that give $140 or more can receive a pair of socks or a red cross Monopack. You will also receive a $10 Amazon gift card in your email if you give plasma, platelets or blood during March. You can visit redcross.org for more information or to donate.  You can also visit RedCrossBlood.org to make an appointment. 

 

 

(Photo Courtesy of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A man from Beaver Falls was jailed on Monday for killing a Pitbull that was ten months old named Ace. Aliquippa Police got a complaint on March 7th, 2025 after Ace was dead when arriving at the hospital. Twenty-four-year-old Brandon Miller had a domestic dispute with his girlfriend and threw the dog down the stairs at a home near Baker Street. Miller also hit Ace two times against a window in a previous argument between him and his girlfriend. Chippewa Township Police handled that incident. Miller was given an arrest warrant for neglect and aggravated cruelty of animals. The Chippewa Township Police Department helped to arrest Miller, who is now in the Beaver County Jail without incident.

(File Photo of Fire Background)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Zelienople, PA) On Saturday, a fire broke out in Zelienople from a car that went to several houses in the area which caused four people to be displaced. The fire occurred on Timberbrook Court at about 9 p.m. According to Zelienople Police, a car jump starter with a lithium battery may have been the starter of the fire. Police also confirmed that the car has a recall for risk of fire from its trailer hitch module. Nobody was injured after the incident occurred. 

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Jefferson Township first responders look over the scene of a school bus crash at the Mount Cobb, Pa. exit of Interstate 84, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Chad Sebring/The Times-Tribune via AP)

MOUNT COBB, Pa. (AP) — Bagpipers returning from a St. Patrick’s Day parade were taken to hospitals after their charter bus crashed into a tractor-trailer, officials said.

The bus was exiting westbound Interstate 84 in northeastern Pennsylvania shortly before 6:30 p.m. Sunday when it ran into the tractor-trailer, which had no one inside it, Jefferson Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Shaffer said, according to WBRE-TV/WYOU-TV.

Seventeen people on the bus had minor injuries, according to Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper First Class Robert Urban. The crash was not weather related and is under investigation, he said.

The bus was carrying the Greater Scranton Black Diamonds Pipe Band back from a parade in Milford, according to Bill Hetherson, the band’s business manager. The band expects everyone to make a full recovery. They cancelled group St. Patrick’s Day events on Monday but some might be able to play solo, Hetherson said.

HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that an Aliquippa man was sentenced last week in federal court to 10 years in prison for his role in a criminal organization distributing large quantities of cocaine and heroin in and around Beaver County.

Kijana Lowe, 27, of Aliquippa, previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to deliver and one count of conspiracy. The Office of Attorney General and the Drug Enforcement Administration, in connection with the Beaver County HIDTA Group and the Pennsylvania State Police, conducted the investigation and prosecuted the case jointly with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

“I am grateful for the hard work and collaboration between our federal, state, and local partners which led to an upper-level drug trafficker being taken off the streets,” Attorney General Sunday said.

In November 2021, Lowe and several other members of the drug trafficking organization traveled to Allegheny County with nearly $300,000 to purchase 10 kilos of cocaine. Federal, state, and local law enforcement intercepted the exchange and recovered the 10 kilos, the cash, and two bags of heroin. Lowe and five others were charged.

Adelin Hernandez Amparo, 31, of the Dominican Republic, and Anthony Tusweet Smith Jr., 24, of Aliquippa, previously pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges. Amparo was sentenced in federal court to nearly 3½ years in prison, followed by two years of federal supervised release. Smith was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by four years of federal supervised release.

Santos Castro-Mota, 42, of Brooklyn, NY, is currently incarcerated and awaiting trial. Cases are pending against Luis David Paredes Sanchez, 25, of Philadelphia, and Guillermo Alexis Evangelista Estevez, 33; both men have fled.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Kara Cotter and Assistant United States Attorney Brendan J. McKenna prosecuted the case.