Police search farm for 4 missing men

PHILADELPHIA — A busload of police cadets was brought in Tuesday to help search a large farm for four missing men believed to be victims of foul play as a prosecutor described a man held on an unrelated gun charge as a person of interest in the investigation.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said bail was set at a $1 million Monday for Cosmo DiNardo, whose family owns the farmland and another property that was searched, because he was considered a flight risk. But Weintraub did not call him a suspect and cautioned there is often a “chasm” between being called a “person of interest” in an investigation and being charged with a crime.

DiNardo, 20, is accused of illegally possessing a shotgun and ammunition in February. A court affidavit said he had a history of mental illness and had been involuntarily committed to an institution for inpatient care. It did not say when the commitment had occurred. The charge had been dismissed by a judge in February, but was refiled.

Numerous law enforcement agencies were taking part in the third day of the search of farmland in Solebury Township, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. The missing are 22-year-old Mark Sturgis, 21-year-old Tom Meo, 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro and 19-yearold Jimi Tar Patrick, a student at Loyola University in Baltimore.

Patrick disappeared on Wednesday, the other three on Friday.

“We are going through it with the equivalent of a finetoothed comb,” Weintraub said of the 90-acre property where authorities have centered their investigation.

DiNardo’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.