Parents plead guilty in case of toddler’s fatal fall

The parents of a 2-year-old boy who died after falling from a third-floor window in the family’s Sharpsburg apartment pleaded guilty Wednesday to endangering the welfare of children.

Roland Williams, 26, and Briana Edwards, 28, were charged after their son, Roland Williams Jr., fell more than 23 feet from the window in their Church Street apartment about 7 p.m. June 2.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos ordered Williams to serve nine months of house arrest followed by two years of probation, while Edwards will serve two years of probation.

According to the criminal complaint, several windows in the home had no screens. The window that the toddler fell from had bars on it, the complaint said, but there was a 9-inch space between the bottom of the bar and the window sill.

Williams, the complaint continued, had repeatedly asked the landlord to replace the missing screens.

Carol Gestrich, who owns the apartment with her husband, Michael, said there had been a child safety guard on the window the child fell from and that other children in the house had broken it. Ms. Gestrich said that the children had broken or removed the screens from seven windows in the house. Just weeks before, Mr. Gestrich said Wednesday, he had asked Edwards if any work needed to be done in the home, and she told him it did not.

Ex-state lawmaker’s case goes to grand jury

The Dauphin County district attorney’s office has empaneled a grand jury to investigate allegations that a former Pennsylvania House member from Butler County sexually assaulted a woman in his Harrisburg town house while she was incapacitated, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

District Attorney Fran Chardo has been investigating the allegations against exstate Rep. Brian Ellis since the start of the year.

Mr. Ellis, 50, a Republican, has denied the allegations.