Home invaders seek lenient sentencing
WAYNESBURG – The sentencing hearing Tuesday afternoon for a duo that pleaded guilty to an April 2014 home invasion was prolonged over whether both should serve time in a state prison or receive another form of sentencing, such as house arrest or incarceration at Greene County jail.
Darlene Nakutis, 42, and Edward Passamonte Jr., 37, both of 23 Locust St., Clarksville, pleaded guilty to entering the Jefferson Borough home at 105 3rd St. and assaulting James Popielarcheck, his wife, Charlotte, and their 32-year-old daughter, Alexis.
Nakutis pleaded guilty May 1 to criminal trespassing, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, simple assault and harassment. Passamonte pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief, simple assault and harassment that same day.
Investigators said Nakutis and Passamonte entered the home April 28, 2014, assaulted the three residents and destroyed $8,000 worth of property inside and outside the dwelling.
Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman continued the hearing after nearly three hours of testimony before handing down a sentence.
Both home invaders spoke directly to the victims, offering them an apology for what transpired.
“I am sorry from the deepest part of my heart,” Nakutis said. “I am not that type of person. I had a home invasion before; I know what it is like.”
Passamonte hoped this event would not leave them as enemies.
“It never should have happened,” Passamonte said. “Don’t be afraid to wave if you ever see me out there.”
Charlotte Popielarcheck also took the stand to share with the court she lost more than belongings that night.
“You have to feel safe in your own home,” Popielarcheck said. “Every room in our house now has a baseball bat in it.”
Charlotte Popielarcheck asked for the assailants to be honest about the situation and own what happened, otherwise it would be another insult to her and her family.
During the hearing, family and friends spoke as character witnesses on behalf of Nakutis and Passamonte with the hope of reducing their sentences.
“She is a good person,” said Bonnie Mercer, who is a neighbor of Nakutis and has known her for 25 years. “It’s not in her nature to do something like that. This was just something freaky that happened.”
Nakutis’s daughter, Apryl Garbutt, struggled with her emotions as she took the stand to describe her mother.
“I don’t really have anything negative to say about her,” Garbutt said as she told the court about how she trusts her mother to watch her two young children three days a week. “She is a great woman.”
Mercer and Garbutt also spoke on behalf of Passamonte as well, saying he is trying to turn his life around.
Toothman asked both home invaders “the big question” about why this event escalated to the point it did.
Nakutis was at a loss for words and continued to say the only thing she planned to do was speak to Charlotte Popielarcheck. Passamonte said his emotions and alcohol clouded his judgment.
Greene County District Attorney Marjorie Fox urged the judge to assign a harsher “state sentence” for the guilty pleas within the suggested guidelines.
Toothman decided to continue the sentencing hearing to a later date that has not yet been scheduled.
“There is a great deal here,” Toothman said. “I have been presented with a lot.”
Nakutis and Passamonte remain free on bond.