STATE
CHARLEROI — Police say “finders keepers” doesn't apply to cash found in your boss' house.
Four members of a construction crew face charges after police say they took $60,000 they found in a house they were renovating for their boss.
Charleroi police say the men found a box containing $20, $50 and $100 bills while renovating the attic, then split the money four ways. Investigators say the newest bill the men found dates back to 1982, so the cash had been hidden for a long time.
Construction company owner Donald Smaracheck had bought the house for $18,000 at a February sheriff's sale.
The men face charges including theft and conspiracy.
MERCER — State police say human remains found by a hunter over the weekend could be those of an 80-year-old man reported missing this summer.That man, Donald Mariacher, was last seen July 13 in East Lackawannock Township.Police say he was agoraphobic — or afraid to leave his house — though he had previously done just that three months earlier when he walked away with a wad of cash and was found unharmed along a road.The missing man's son, Mike Mariacher, told a Pittsburgh newspaper that state troopers from the Mercer barracks called to tell him when the remains were found Saturday a half mile from his father's home.Police say tests could take weeks to confirm the identity of the remains.
