All charges held for court for Westmoreland Co. sheriff

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held will be heading to trial on allegations of public corruption and theft.

Two men who served in the sheriff’s office under Held took the stand Thursday in Greensburg. Both said they helped with election campaign efforts for a fundraiser called "I Outshot the Sheriff."

Retired deputy Lt. Vince Izzo testified he would solicit donations for about four hours a day, three days a week, while in uniform, in a county car and on county time.

Defense attorney Ryan Tutera questioned his truthfulness and credibility.

“These witnesses admitted to not telling the truth; that's a matter of credibility, OK?” Tutera said. “Judge Flanagan cannot weigh that testimony; it's outside of her authority.”

When prosecutors asked Izzo why he spoke to investigators a second time and added to his story, he responded by saying he didn't want to get fired and was worried about retaliation and losing his pension, saying he's seen it happen to other deputies before.

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A current deputy, Sgt. Irvin Shipley, said he only helped with the fundraiser in 2015, but not on county time.

He said two of the deputies in his division were asked to help solicit guns to raffle off for prizes. He said the sheriff told him he had no time and asked if some of the warrant deputies would help because he did a lot for them.

Tutera said the case comes down to credibility, and he looks forward to defending Held.

“I'm very confident that when a fact finder sits down and sifts through these stories, I think they're going to have a very hard time convicting him,” Tutera said.

Tutera tried to get the theft charges dropped, saying prosecutors didn't designate a specific dollar amount taken, but the judge agreed with prosecutors, saying the amount is unnecessary because the allegation comes down to the taxpayer-funded salaries being used while campaigning.

Cox Media Group