Local News
Woman sentenced for grave marker thefts
Sounding more like a coach than a judge, Thomas M. Piccione yesterday urged Jessica Lynn Gustaitis to realize her potential.
�You have talent, intelligence and abilities,� the Lawrence County Common Pleas court judge told the 22-year-old Eagleville, Pa., woman. �Get out of this (court) system and realize your potential. You can do it.�
The judge sentenced Gustaitis to six to 12 months in the Lawrence County jail, followed by two years of probation; to pay costs of prosecution and supervision; to provide a DNA sample and with codefendant Matthew Edward Russick, to pay restitution of $14,000 to the Lawrence County Veterans Affairs office.
Gustaitis and Russick were arrested Dec. 8, charged with stealing brass markers from graves in St. Mary, St. Vitus, Graceland and Oak Park cemeteries, discarding the medallions from the posts and selling the brass rods for $1 apiece to a local recycling center. Police estimated the two took about 1,000 rods during a two-week period.
COMMUNITY SERVICE ORDERED
Piccione also ordered Gustaitis to perform community service during the next two years. As requested by Phillip Kelly, she musts work with local veteran organizations to place flags and markers on veterans� graves prior to Memorial Day, or she must work �in another civic capacity that honors, recognizes and identifies veterans� graves.�
Yesterday�s proceedings were attended by Kelly, commander of the New Castle Area Honor Guard and a member of several local veterans organizations, four other veterans, and Lawrence County Veterans Affairs Director Shirley Noga.
Piccione credited Gustaitis for 12 days already served in the Lawrence County jail and for 30 days of in-patient drug and alcohol treatment at White Deer Run Treatment Center. He said he is considering whether he will give full or partial credit toward her sentence for three months she spent at Highland House Halfway House in New Castle.
Noting that Gustaitis and her family live in Montgomery County, Piccione said he would not oppose a request by her to transfer her parole residence closer to her home.
�But that will depend on you,� he said. Should she violate terms of her sentence or parole, she could be back before him and resentenced, he said.
Gustaitis pleaded guilty to one count of institutional vandalism. In exchange, charges against her, which had include conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property, desecration or sale of venerated objects and criminal mischief, were not be prosecuted.
ON HER BEHALF
Defense attorney Robert T. Barletta said Gustaitis and Russick met while in drug rehab, and she accompanied him to Lawrence County. Since her discharge from Highland House on May 29, she has lived with her parents, held jobs at two restaurants and attends Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
As her mother sobbed, Anthony Gustaitis spoke on his daughter�s behalf. He said she had been in college on a sports scholarship and had made good grades until developing a drug problem. He noted that her grandfather was a World War II veteran, one of his brothers is in the state police and another served in Army special forces and is a retired colonel. He also wrote a letter on her behalf.
After her arrest in December, Anthony Gustaitis said, he twice refused to send her bail money. Then, she tried to hang herself at the county jail.
�She was taken to Presbyterian Hospital, unconscious,� he said . �The doctors didn�t know if she would live or have brain damage, but she survived.�
He said his daughter is receiving treatment for a bipolar disorder diagnosed at Presbyterian Hospital following her suicide attempt at the jail. He said she no longer is using drugs.
�She�s a different person and regrets what she did,� he said.
Gustaitis apologized to the veterans and to her family. She said her goal is to get a better job and go back to college.
Piccione urged her to get her life together and forget her codefendant.
�Everyone but you recognizes you are not going anywhere with this guy,� he said. �He doesn�t love you. He wants you for what he can achieve through you.�
Russick was sentenced in August to six to 23 1/2 months in the Lawrence County jail and two years of probation. He was credited for 85 days already served. He also was ordered to pay prosecution and supervision costs, to pay restitution of $14,000 to the Lawrence County Veterans Affairs office and to work with local veterans to place flags and grave markers at local cemeteries prior to Memorial Day.
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