Innocent plea

Innocent plea
CLEVELAND -- Robert F. Elias, a Canfield accountant accused of cheating on his taxes and helping Richard D. Goldberg, a disbarred and imprisoned malpractice attorney, underreport his income by nearly $3 million, pleaded innocent at arraignment Tuesday.
Elias, 58, of Blueberry Hill Drive, is free on $50,000 unsecured bond.
His travel is restricted to northeastern Ohio. He may travel for business to Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas and West Virginia with permission of pretrial services. No trial date was set. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus in Youngstown.
Campaign stops set
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Catherine Baker Knoll, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor, will be making a campaign tour through Mercer and Crawford counties Thursday.
Knoll will be the guest of the Mercer County Democrat Committee at Sharon's Premier Hotel, 3200 S. Hermitage Road, from 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Knoll, a former state treasurer, will appear with local candidates at the Cochranton Fire Hall at 9 a.m., the Crawford County Democratic Headquarters at 309 Chestnut St. in Meadville at 10:15 a.m., and the Shenango Valley Center for Aging and Geriatric Health at 220 N. Buhl Farm Drive in Hermitage at 11:45 a.m.
After the luncheon, Knoll will travel to various industrial plant gates to greet workers at shift changes between 2:45 and 3:45 p.m.
Knoll, a Pittsburgh native, is the running mate of former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell.
Seeking help for deficit
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County is looking for help from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to solve its budget woes. The county is facing a projected $1.5 million deficit in jail revenues this year.
County officials had expected to make that money by housing inmates from other counties at a fee of $55 per day, but the number of out-of-county inmates has dropped off drastically.
Commissioner Roger DeCarbo said he wrote a letter to Bill Reznor, deputy secretary for intergovernmental relations for the Department of Corrections, to see if they could provide a consultant who would help. "I don't feel we've explored all options," DeCarbo said.
Benefit art auction
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- An art auction benefiting the Lawrence County Historical Society is planned for Thursday at the New Englander Banquet Facility on Wilmington Road. A preview of art will be at 6:30 p.m. and the auction starts at 7:30 p.m. There also will be food, music, raffles and a silent auction. Tickets are $10 per person and $15 per couple.
Tampering charge
SHARON, Pa. -- Police arrested a woman they said tampered with evidence at the scene of a drug overdose death.
Joy F. Steele, 47, of Prindle Street, who found her friend, Linda Arnold, 48, dead in Steele's home Dec. 1, 2001, is accused of cleaning up evidence of drug use at the scene before calling authorities.
She was arrested at the police station around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of tampering with evidence and was arraigned before District Justice James McMahon, who freed her on a $5,000 unsecured bond pending a preliminary hearing at a later date.
Police said Steele delayed calling authorities between 30 and 40 minutes after finding Arnold's body. She is accused of moving syringes and a charred spoon from the death scene during that time period.
J. Bradley McGonigle, Mercer County coroner, ruled that Arnold died of a drug overdose.
Fire in duplex
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- City firefighters are trying to determine how a fire started in a South Walnut Street duplex. Fire Chief James Donston said the blaze started at 8:57 p.m. Tuesday in a second-floor bedroom in a home owned by Gary Moore.
Jamie Norris, his wife and two children live in the home. The fire started in a bedroom occupied by a 7-year-old boy, who first saw the flames, Donston said. Fire and smoke damage was contained to the bedroom, the chief said.