Hearing postponed for kidnapping, shooting suspects
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Keith Anthony Rosario in a file photo from 2017
A sheriff’s deputy escorts Richard Lacks Jr. into Washington County Courthouse for a hearing Monday.
Marcus Stancik
A judge ordered the release Monday of a man detained three days earlier to ensure his testimony against the men accused of kidnapping and shooting him last month in South Franklin Township.
Marcus Stancik, 30, who has Washington and Pittsburgh addresses, was jailed Friday on a “material witness warrant” signed by Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle. The judge authorized Stancik’s release Monday with the condition he stay in contact with state police and county prosecutors, Assistant District Attorney Jerry Moschetta said.
“His whereabouts will be kept confidential, but he won’t be in any official custody,” Moschetta said.
The county district attorney’s office took the unusual step of asking to have the witness detained after Stancik failed to appear Sept. 25 to testify at a preliminary hearing scheduled that day for Keith A. Rosario, 26, and Richard D. Lacks Jr., 23, both of Washington, who face charges in the Sept. 5 incident.
Another preliminary hearing for Rosario and Lacks was postponed Monday when both men appeared in Central Court before District Judge Ethan Ward. Ward informed Lacks he would postpone the proceeding so Lacks could find an attorney. Ward also granted a continuance requested by Rosario’s attorney, Herbert Terrell, so the hearing could be held at the same time for both men. It’s now scheduled for Oct. 12. Terrell declined to comment on the case.
Rosario and Lacks both face charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping and conspiracy.
Stancik told state troopers he was walking in an alley near Route 40 when Rosario and another man, later identified by police as Lacks, got out of a vehicle, assaulted him, threw him in the vehicle and drove him to Cove Road, according to court papers.
After Stancik was shot in the neck, allegedly by Rosario, he reportedly escaped by jumping into a lake and swimming away. He was found by a state trooper about 10:40 p.m. on Cove Road.
Stancik was taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment.
Rosario and Lacks are both being held in the county jail. Ward previously denied bond for Rosario and set bond at $1 million for Lacks.
Police investigated Rosario in connection with the March 2015 slaying of Marius TreVaughn Chatman, whose partially nude and bullet-riddled body was found on the Seventh Ward playground in Washington. The investigation failed to produce enough evidence to make an arrest.