Beaver Meadows man facing several additional charges A 37-year-old man will face additional charges at Carbon County Courthouse in relation to an alleged attack on his wife and her family in Beaver Meadows on Aug. 4. The most serious of four new charges lodged against Kenneth R. Kondash of 32 Tamaqua St., Beaver Meadows, by state police at Hazleton is criminal attempt at homicide, a first-degree felony. Troopers also filed a count of aggravated assault, a felony against him, and two counts of simple assault, misdemeanors. The new charges filed against him during a Wednesday preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Joseph Homanko, Weatherly, are added to a bevy of charges previously filed against him by troopers to include burglary, an additional count of aggravated assault and criminal trespass, all felonies, terroristic threats, simple assault and reckless endangerment, misdemeanors. Kondash’s attorney, Robert S. Frycklund, Summit Hill, did not motion to have any of the charges dismissed and after the commonwealth closed it’s case during the hearing. Homanko ruled that the prosecution presented enough evidence to bound the charges to county court for a trial. Frycklund refused to comment on the case after the hearing. Homanko revoked Kondash’s previous bail of $300,000, set during his Aug. 4 arraignment, stating that he felt Kondash was a danger to society, remanding him back to Carbon County Correctional Facility, Nesquehoning, without bail where he has been housed since the assault. Homanko noted that if Kondash’s defense attorney wanted to appeal his revocation of bail, he could at the county courthouse. An amended criminal complaint alleges Kondash intended to commit homicide against his estranged wife, Brianna Paulshock by breaking into her parents home and then entering her bedroom where she slept with her 7-year-old son before holding a knife to her throat and telling her he was going to kill her. It also states he intentionally, knowingly or recklessly caused serious bodily injury to Paulshock by making the same actions. The two simple assault counts are related to harm he caused Paulshock’s brother Andrew “A.J.” Paulshock Jr., and their mother Kelly Paulshock, both of whom said they were injured after coming to Brianna’s aide when she cried for help during the attack, court papers state. According to court papers and testimony during his hearing, Kondash allegedly broke into Brianna’s parent’s home, not far away from his own residence, around 1 a.m. and then walked into Brianna’s room with a curved knife, pointing it at her. Brianna had been staying with her parents, according to her own testimony after a previous altercation between the two. He woke her, Brianna told the courtroom, by pushing on her shoulder, pointed the knife at her throat and said they were both going to die that night. Brianna said Kondash took her cell phone and car keys with him as they walked to the hallway on the home’s second floor. There, Brianna said she pushed Kondash into the bathroom. With his hand on her arm, Kondash, who had Brianna kneel at the bathtub, put a knife to her throat and Brianna said she grabbed it by the blade as she yelled for her mother, Kelly. She suffered a cut to her hand and bites on her arm from him, Brianna said. At one point Brianna said he caused her a concussion when he banged her head off the tub. Her mother then began yelling at Kondash and hitting him and Kondash allegedly hit Kelly back, according to testimony. A.J. came into the room with a loaded shotgun and demanded Kondash let his sister go, according to testimony and fired a warning shot into a wall. Kondash ignored him and continued to bite Brianna’s arm until A.J. hit Kondash in the head with the butt of the gun, A.J. said during testimony. Kondash dropped the knife and attempted to wrestle the gun away from A.J. and punched him in the face repeatedly, court papers said. During the struggle for the gun, another shot was fired into the wall. Paulshock’s mother, Kelly, picked up the knife and cut Kondash’s arm, she said during testimony. At one point Kondash stopped and sat down. “And all of a sudden he just stopped. He stopped,” Kelly said. She said he walked downstairs and left the residence while Kelly followed him, locking the door behind him. Kelly said she found a slit in the screen of an open window, suspecting that’s how Kondash broke into the home, noting the home’s doors were locked. All three Paulshocks were taken to the hospital after the incident. Brianna was treated at the hospital and her brother A.J. had his broken nose reset. Kelly said she sustained a “bumble” on her head from being hit by Kondash. Kondash also had a preliminary hearing in a second case Wednesday, on charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct, which Homanko also held for court. Homanko arraigned Kondash in that case on Aug. 27 and he was remanded back to jail on $25,000 bail. In that case, according to court papers, Kondash is accused of punching Richard A. Porpiglia in the area of 53 E. Maple St., Tresckow, in the face June 1 at about 10:40 p.m. after a verbal altercation. The punch occurred, according to court papers, while Porpiglia was inside his vehicle. Porpiglia said he sustained a broken jaw that required surgery and has residual damage from the punch, such as numbness on his face. Arrest papers state Kondash indicated that he punched Porpiglia when interviewed by police and said he thought Porpiglia was getting out of his vehicle to fight him. Kondash was told to stay away from all victims in the cases by Homanko. The judge also made specific note that since Porpiglia is a member of the governing body in Banks Township, Kondash can not attend any township meetings without prior consent from the court.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 11:42:02 +0000