In Indiana County Court today, a number of defendants are scheduled to be sentenced, with one Homer City man facing sentencing in five separate cases.
29-year-old Benjamin Joel Mains of Homer City was arrested last November 30th after state police were summoned for a report that a thief was breaking into cars in Lucernemines. Using surveillance images, police identified Mains and he was tracked down and arrested, with police using a Taser to subdue him as he tried to flee. Combining all five cases against him, he pleaded guilty to criminal trespass, theft by deception, criminal use of a communication facility (in a felony drug case), two counts of receiving stolen property, attempted theft from a motor vehicle.
Also scheduled to be sentenced today is 32-year-old Steven Oswalt of Indiana, for guilty pleas to receiving stolen property in one case and to possession with intent to deliver in another. The drug case was from April of last year, when Oswalt sold drugs to undercover officers of the Indiana County Drug Task Force. He had heroin, marijuana, and paraphernalia on him at the time. He has two other active cases in the courts, both of which involve controlled buys to undercover officers on May 7th last year. With an extensive criminal history in Indiana County, Oswalt is currently an inmate at SCI Camp Hill.
31-year-old Jeffrey Stano of Slickville will be sentenced for guilty pleas to simple assault (penetration with a hypodermic needle), possession of a controlled substance and of drug paraphernalia, along with DUI controlled substance and four summary traffic offenses.
34-year-old Heather Renee Shank of Indiana will be sentenced for guilty pleas to retail theft in three separate cases.
27-year-old Travis Boychuck of Cherry Tree will have a Plea Court appearance today for four felony charges related to operating a methamphetamine lab and two counts of misdemeanor possession.
