HOLLIDAYSBURG — A judge dismissed a group of tomato suppliers from a lawsuit brought by a man who claims he was sickened by salmonella-tainted tomatoes he got at a Sheetz store in 2004.

Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva said Sheetz, an Altoona-based convenience store chain, and its vegetable wholesaler, Coronet Foods of Wheeling, W.Va., could not prove where the tomatoes came from. So the judge dismissed claims against two main suppliers — Procacci Brothers Sales Corp. of Philadelphia and Consumer Produce Co. of Pittsburgh — and against six farms or other businesses that may have grown the tomatoes.

Thursday's ruling means Sheetz and Coronet are the only defendants left in the case.

Federal investigators traced hundreds of illnesses to salmonella found on tomatoes sold in Sheetz stores in Pennsylvania and other states in June and July 2004.

PITTSBURGH — A state trooper stalked and harassed several women he met on duty — fondling one and beginning a sexual relationship with another — usually by telling them he would overlook their transgressions if they had relationships with him, police said in charges announced Thursday.Trooper Charles T. Butler III, 37, is accused of multiple misdeeds, including having sex on the hood of his patrol car, using a state police computer to track down a woman and calling a woman so many times that she had to change her phone number.Butler was arraigned Thursday on one count of unlawful use of a computer and five counts of bribery, all third-degree felonies that carry up to seven years in prison each.He also faces numerous misdemeanor charges including six counts of stalking, seven counts of official oppression, eight counts of harassment and one count of indecent assault.Butler had been on restricted duty since February and resigned Wednesday.

PITTSBURGH — A 13-year-old girl charged with killing her allegedly abusive father was moved from a psychiatric facility to a juvenile detention center, but a judge refused to release her to the custody of her estranged mother.The girl was moved to the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center on Wednesday, but a judge on Thursday refused her request to live with her mother on high-risk home monitoring, said her attorney, Patrick Nightingale.Nightingale contends his client shot her father, Matthew Booth Sr., in the face on July 30 to end years of physical and sexual abuse. The Associated Press does not identify possible victims of sexual abuse.The girl had been living with her 34-year-old father in a squalid home in Elizabeth that authorities have called uninhabitable because of flea infestation, animal feces, broken plumbing and other problems.Allegheny County Judge Kathryn Hens-Greco may reconsider whether to release the girl to her mother later this month.