Arraignment

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - One of the three people accused of killing a woman in the summer of 1999 because he believed she was a police informant was arraigned Monday in Berkeley County Circuit Court on one count of murder. Keyston J. West, 25, who is serving two life sentences for related convictions, was brought to Circuit Court from the Eastern Regional Jail for the brief arraignment. West pleaded innocent to indictments charging him with murder and a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A Shepherdstown, W.Va., man was arraigned Friday in Jefferson County Magistrate Court on animal cruelty and related charges after allegedly shooting a dog while it was chained at a neighboring home, according to court records. Edwin W. Wabnitz III, 53, of 6075 Martinsburg Pike, was charged with one felony count of animal cruelty and three misdemeanor counts of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, according to complaint filed in court by Jefferson County Sheriff's Department Sgt. R.S. Sell.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. --A Martinsburg man was arraigned Thursday after police allege he sold $600 in cocaine to an informant at Shoney's restaurant in the city, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Darnell Hairston, 36, of 616 N. Queen St., was arraigned by Magistrate Joan V. Bragg on two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, according to court records. Hairston was charged by West Virginia State Police, who investigated the case along with members of the Martinsburg Police Department, and Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crime Task Force.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A former Martinsburg City Councilman who is accused of failing to pay for and return a GPS unit that he leased in May 2007 was arraigned Tuesday on one felony count of obtaining property by false pretense, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Christopher Aaron Baker, 34, was released on a $2,500 personal recognizance bond by Magistrate Sandra L. Miller, according to court records. Baker, who served on City Council from 2000 to 2004, was identified by a Caron East Inc. sales representative in a photo lineup, according to a complaint filed by Berkeley County Sheriff's Lt. W.A. Johnson.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The second of two men charged in a vandalism spree last year waived mandatory arraignment in Franklin County Court Wednesday and was scheduled for trial in November. Timothy Corbiser, 29, of 6455 Coffman Farms Road, Keedysville, is charged with 22 counts each of criminal mischief and criminal conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, as well as individual counts of theft, criminal conspiracy to commit theft and receiving stolen property, according to court records.

shappell@herald-mail.com A Frederick, Md., man being held in New York City on murder charges stemming from a 2002 shooting in Hagerstown is expected to be returned to Hagerstown today. Hagerstown Police Lt. Rick Johnson said Karim Ali Ward, 27, will be taken before a Washington County District Court commissioner at about 5 or 6 p.m. today for arraignment on charges stemming from the Dec. 14, 2002, shooting death of Carl Anthony Wallace. Ward faces charges of first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, use of a handgun in a crime of violence and carrying a handgun.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Three Chambersburg women charged with following delivery trucks and stealing packages from doorsteps in Chambersburg and Greene Township before Christmas waived their preliminary arraignments Tuesday in Franklin County Central Court. Karen L. Beam, 48, of 815 S. Fifth St., is charged with 43 counts each of theft and receiving stolen property and 15 counts of criminal conspiracy by Pennsylvania State Police and Chambersburg police, according to court records.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - One of three men indicted in the January attempted armed robbery of the Waffle House north of Martinsburg has been arraigned on charges of malicious wounding and battery, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Wayne Robert Bates, 23, of Berkeley County, was arraigned Wednesday night by Magistrate Harry L. Snow. Bates was being held Thursday at Eastern Regional Jail, according to jail records. Bates is charged with hitting and kicking a man in the head and face and battering the victim's girlfriend on Jan. 19 in the parking lot of the Fraternal Order of Orioles Nest 313. The incident happened five days after he and Gary L. Himes of Hedgesville, W.Va.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A self-described heroin addict is believed to have pocketed thousands of dollars from area businesses that gave her money in support of the American Heart Association, not her addiction, according to police who have been investigating the scam complaints and court records. Angela Renee Shirley, 31, of 561 Hidden Hollow Drive in Kearneysville, W.Va., had been arraigned on seven misdemeanor counts of obtaining money by false pretenses as of Wednesday afternoon, according to magistrate court records in Jefferson and Berkeley counties.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Four men arraigned over the weekend in Berkeley County Magistrate Court are accused of dealing cocaine and marijuana, according to court records. Miguel A. Lopez Hernandez, 28, and Saul Alvarado Roman, 27, both of Winchester, Va., were charged with distribution of cocaine and were in Eastern Regional Jail on Monday, each on $100,000 cash-only bonds set by Magistrate Harry L. Snow. Gilberto Vega-Reyes, 49, of 234A Bellview Drive in Martinsburg, was in jail Monday on charges of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and operating a vehicle with a license suspended for driving under the influence, according to jail and court records.