Multiple defendants will be sentenced in Indiana County Court today for a variety of offenses. They include two people who each pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering another person in the death of a man at their personal care home in Glen Campbell in May of 2014. Lance and Tonya Shirey were charged in connection with the death of Gary Armstrong, who died from an overdose of fentanyl. Armstrong chewed his gel patch of the powerful prescription and was found unconscious. He was put in his bed at around 8 PM and despite increasing signs of medical deterioration, 911 was not called until around 1 AM, when he had stopped breathing. In a plea bargain, the state Attorney General’s offices withdrew a felony charge against each of the Shireys for neglect of care of a dependent person.
- 24-year-old Brittany Marie Tausi of Indiana will be sentenced for guilty pleas to retail theft in six separate cases, three of them last June and three more last September. In one of those cases, she was also accused of hitting a Martins’ supermarket manager who attempted to stop her as she left the store, but she will not be prosecuted for assault. At least one other of those thefts involved a swipe-and-swap with another defendant at Walmart.
- 22-year-old Dominic Gardner of Pittsburgh will be sentenced for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. The case originated last February. Gardner was to be sentenced in December, but was granted a continuance until today, with no further delays permitted.
- 40-year-old Stacey Marie Turner will be sentenced in three cases, two of them for felony retail theft within three days of each other last July and another for misdemeanor theft and corruption of minors in May of last year. Another defendant, 59-year-old James Platko of Homer City, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to retail theft and to corruption of minors in the May case, which took place on three occasions and involved stealing from the White Township Walmart with Turner and a third defendant, Misti Durante of Homer City. Platko’s two teenage daughters, ages 15 and 16, also were involved in the thefts. Platko is an uncle of both Turner and Durante.
