The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

November 20, 2009

Mom steals from daughter

By Matt Snyder

REYNOLDS — A young woman stood in sentence court Friday morning and gave her mother a piece of her mind. Her mother had stolen the young woman’s identity and ruined her credit, endangering her student loans, she said.

Her mother, Wendy K. Wheeler, 41, of 2 Maple Drive, Reynolds, pleaded guilty Oct. 6 to theft by deception for using her daughter’s identity to pay bills.

Mrs. Wheeler said she had run low on options. Her husband, Roger L. Wheeler, 41, formerly of 206 Hadley Road, Hempfield Township, in April was sent to jail for 8è to 25 years because he had sexually assaulted his daughters from the time they were 6 years old.

Mrs. Wheeler told Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas R. Dobson she hadn’t expected her husband to receive that jail term and was left with no way to pay bills, buy food, or provide for her autistic 12-year-old son. She said she had planned to repay her daughter.

Her daughter said she is a full-time college student working two jobs and is now swamped in debt and bad credit. The expenditures her mother made endangered her student loans and bar her from taking out more for now. She also can’t make normal purchases, like a car.

She also accused her mother of taking part in years of physical and emotional abuse, along with Wheeler. The young woman first came forward with Wheeler’s crimes in 2004, but he and her mother claimed she made them up. During his sentencing for those crimes last spring, she told Dobson her father’s assaults had torn apart the family and ruined her relationship with her mother.

“Your honor, I love my daughter with all my heart,” Mrs. Wheeler told Dobson on Friday. She said she is hurt because the court bars her from contacting her daughters, even on their birthdays.

“It’s your fault,” Dobson responded, reminding her that the court forbids contact because when her daughter had accused her husband of abusing her, Mrs. Wheeler had sided with him. For the theft, Dobson ordered Mrs. Wheeler to pay restitution and sentenced her to 45 days to a year and a half in jail, followed by 6 months’ probation. Mrs. Wheeler’s daughter, who has said she has little contact with her family anymore, had one more thing to say to her mother: “I will get my college education and will go on to make something of myself.”

Text Only
Local News
  • Store owner busted again for fake pot sales

    The owner of a Grove City store already facing charges related to the sale of synthetic marijuana has been arrested a second time for selling the drug.

    Ala H. Nassar, 27, of 125 S. Seventh St., Sharpsville, was arrested Thursday on charges of delivery, possession and possession with intent to deliver synthetic pot, criminal use of a cellular telephone and conspiracy to commit delivery.

    Abdallah H. Matariyeh, 27, of the same address, also was arrested on charges of delivery and possession with intent to deliver.

    February 10, 2012

  • Bids opened for work to widen Rt. 760

    PennDOT officials opened bids Thursday for the first two sections of a three-section widening of Route 760 in Wheatland, Farrell and Sharon.

    February 10, 2012

  • Timeline now at center of negligence lawsuit

    A jury will decide whether the normal statute of limitations applies in a lawsuit filed by a Sharon man accusing a Sewickley agency of negligence that resulted in numerous injuries to his disabled son.

    February 10, 2012

  • Social media alert first responders

    The Mercer County Fire/EMS alerts’ Facebook page is two years strong and continues to attract followers who want the latest updates on traffic accidents, fires and other emergencies.

    February 10, 2012

  • State cuts trickle down to township

    Brookfield Township “is in a world of hurt.”

    February 9, 2012

  • Toth takes $30k to settle lawsuit

    It’s typical for lawsuit settlement agreements to include a confidentiality clause that bars the parties from discussing the terms of the settlement.

    February 9, 2012

  • Taking flight

    Some kids probably daydream about sending their homework up into the atmosphere, but that really happened this week for a few classes of Jamestown Area High School students.

    February 9, 2012

  • GC man called suspect in Jan. 27 bank robbery

    A Grove City man charged with robbing a Zelienople bank Monday is a suspect in the Jan. 27 robbery of a Sandy Lake bank.

    February 8, 2012

  • Committee to focus on finances for future

    Sharon city leaders have money on their minds as they look to the future of the once-vibrant town struggling with a limited tax base and higher costs of doing business.

    February 8, 2012

  • Summer work turns into year-round part-time job

    A Sharpsville resident asked council members this week why the man hired as summer help is still on the payroll in the middle of winter.

    February 8, 2012