The defendant entered a plea to misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child. As part of a deal between her attorney and the prosecution, Judge Anthony Sarcione sentenced her to three years of probation and ordered her to undergo substance abuse and psychological evaluations and comply with all recommended treatment.

The circumstances surrounding her arrest made headlines across the region. In her plea agreement, she admitted letting her daughter sit in the front driver’s seat of her SUV as it was “moving slowly in the travel lane of Walnut Street” in Coatesville on the afternoon of Sept. 6.

It was unclear whether the car’s engine had been running prior to police spotting it. It had not gone a significant distance from when police first saw the car to when they took Hogue into custody.

Initially, authorities indicated that the defendanthad forced her daughter to drive the car because she was too intoxicated at the time.   The Defendant’s reportedly laughed about the incident and said she was teaching her daughter to drive, police said. The arresting officer said the defendant had bloodshot, glassy eyes and appeared “very nonchalant about the whole situation.”

The relative, who was not named in the criminal complaint, then asked the girl: “Was your mom smoking that stinky stuff again?” The girl then allegedly replied, “yes” with tears in her eyes.

The 6-year-old female driver was “almost hanging off the steering wheel,” an officer said during testimony at the defendant’s preliminary hearing. “You could see approximately half of her face. Her nose was at the steering wheel.”

The defendant had been free on bail since her arrest pending the resolution of the case involving her daughter. In March, she pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a confrontation with city police in March 2009 when she objected to her son being taken into custody. She was sentenced to 90 days probation on a summary charge of disorderly conduct.

 Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Callahan, of the district attorney’s Child Abuse Unit, said the sentence fell under the standard range of the state’s sentencing guidelines. She said her office took into consideration whether the 6-year-old, and the defendant’s other children, were safe and determined that they are.

According to the plea agreement, the defendant will have to follow recommendation made by the county’s Dependency Court regarding her children, who live with the defendant and her family. Callahan said no problems had been reported since her arrest in September. 

Sometimes we make choices that can hurt our family and friends. Don’t let these choices ruin your life. Let the experienced lawyers at Ciccarelli Law Offices fight for you.

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The word “miraculous” scarcely describes the survival of a Santa Maria, California police officer who wrapped his Ford Police Interceptor around a tree Sunday morning. It’s what the local Police Chief calls the “worst accident he’s seen in 35 years.”

Sunday was a busy day for the members of the Santa Maria Police Department, starting with a police chase that resulted in a stolen car crashing into a first grade classroom of a local school. But that’s not where this amazing crash happened.

Hours later, Officer Damon Badnell was responding to an officer involved in a foot pursuit of a burglary suspect when he lost control of his vehicle on a slippery road. The momentum wrapped the vehicle around the tree, nearly bisecting the Ford Crown Victoria.

The officer, who recently was awarded for stopping the most drunk drivers, has a few broken bones but doctors are hopeful about his recovery. 

Automobile accidents are serious events that can cause both physical and mental pain. Trust the attorneys at Ciccarelli Law to seriously handle your case and get you the help you need and deserve.

The defendant is accused of taking the $82,067 that her 81-year-old aunt had coming from a second mortgage on her Fifth Avenue home in Phoenixville and spending it on herself, leaving her aunt, who was suffering from dementia at the time, in danger of losing the home her husband had bought for the couple in 1956.

Ashton had told her aunt, that she would repay the money, which she needed for personal expenses, authorities said. But she never did. The house was foreclosed on and Voytowicz faced eviction until family members and attorneys stepped in and saved the home from being sold out from under her.

The aunt died in November 2008 after suffering a debilitating stroke. She was 84.

On Wednesday, the defendant pleaded guilty to charges of theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and receiving stolen property. The plea ended her trial on those charges, which had begun in Judge William P. Mahon’s courtroom Monday.

Mahon told the defendant her guilty plea simply hastened the inevitable.

“This would have been one of the swiftest deliberations any jury had ever gone through to convict you on these charges,” Mahon told the defendant, 57. He said he spoke out of his 11 years on the bench, as well as his reading of the jurors, who he sensed were ready to find her guilty.

Now, she faces sentencing on the charges. She will be held in Chester County Prison while a pre-sentencing report is completed.

The incident happened just before 4 p.m. Wednesday at Ferncroft Lane and Sunderland Avenue in Chester Springs, Pa., officials say.

The unidentified 7-year-old was airlifted by medical helicopter to the A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del. with serious injuries, officials say. He was last listed in critical condition.

The student is a first grader who attends Pickering Valley Elementary School, officials say.

It’s unclear what led to the accident, but the boy was hit by the same school bus he had ridden home from school on, police say.

The investigation is ongoing.

CHICAGO – Claims-processing errors by health insurance companies create billions of dollars in unnecessary administrative costs, slow down payments to doctors and frustrate patients, the main U.S. doctor’s group said on Monday.

The American Medical Association said one-fifth of all claims are mishandled by health insurers.

Begun in 2008, the association’s annual “National Health Insurer Report Card” rated the nation’s eight largest health insurers in how they handle claims, and concluded that if all problems were resolved the system would save $15.5 billion annually in administrative costs.

Currently, the health care system spends as much as $210 billion annually on claims processing, according to the report issued at the AMA’s annual meeting. Doctors have long complained about excessive paperwork required to satisfy insurance companies.

“Each insurer uses different rules for processing and paying medical claims, which cause complexity, confusion and waste,” former AMA President Dr. Nancy Nielsen said in a statement accompanying the report.

“Simplifying the administrative process with standardized requirements will reduce unnecessary costs in the health system” that often requires doctors to file different forms to each insurer, she said.

The AMA described mishandling as claims processed with errors – underpaid, overpaid or incorrectly unpaid.

Among the eight companies, Conventry Health Care was rated the best with an accuracy rate for processing and paying claims of 88.4 percent. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield was at the bottom with a score of 74 percent.

The overall accuracy rate was 80 percent, with each 1 percentage point improvement worth $778 million in savings in unnecessary administrative costs, the AMA said.

Still, the AMA said insurers led by privately owned United Healthcare made progress since 2008 in accurately reporting the fees paid to contracted doctors.

All except Cigna Corp had gotten slower since 2008 in responding to claims, with responses coming between five and 13 days. Insurers made better use of websites to disclose policies and fees to physicians, reducing disputes.

Denials of insurance claims remained a sore point for physicians, who called for insurers and employers to provide clarity about what is and is not covered. The percentage of claims denied — usually because of eligibility issues — ranged from 0.7 percent to 4.5 percent.

Other companies evaluated were Aetna Inc, Humana Inc, UnitedHealthGroup, and Health Care Service Corp. 

Ciccarelli Lawyers will aggressively fight for your rights against the big insurance companies. Contact us today to find out how.

The two victims, ages 19 and 20, were both seriously injured in the accident.  Both victims are from Philadelphia.  One of the women was airlifted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.    The other victim was taken to a closer hospital.

The accident remains under investigation by police.

Contact Ciccarelli Lawyers if you or a family member or the victim of a serious injury.  Learn more.

The wreck occurred at 3:53 a.m. in the 3300 block of Lincoln Highway in Paradise.

The driver of the rear tractor trailer was freed at 4:53 a.m., the dispatch supervisor said.

Three people were injured and taken to Lancaster General Hospital.

Saddle fuel tanks were ruptured in the wreck and a hazardous materials team responded to clean up a spill.

Do not be the victim of an automobile accident or personal injury claim.  Get experienced, aggressive personal injury lawyers to fight for you and your family.  Learn more by contacting Ciccarelli Lawyers today.