WEST CHESTER -- Morgan Marie Mengel, the West Goshen woman accused of engineering the death of her husband at the hands of her young lover, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges Tuesday as testimony in her trial was on the verge of beginning.

Mengel, 37, was sentenced to life in state prison without parole, plus a consecutive sentence of 20 years probation for conspiring with Stephen Shappell to kill her 33-year-old husband, Kevin Mengel Jr.

After her formal sentencing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Patrick Carmody, who led the prosecution against Mengel along with Assistant District Attorney Deborah Ryan, disputed the notion that the case was one of a love triangle gone bad.

"Morgan Mengel only loved herself," he said after the hearing before Senior Judge Thomas Gavin, who one year ago had declared a mistrial in the case.

"This was the ultimate crime of selfishness," Carmody told reporters outside Gavin's courtroom, after watching members of Kevin's Mengel's family hug one another and shed tears of relief in the 7th floor hallway of the Chester County Justice Center. "She washed herself of her husband, of her lover, and of her three children.

"She tried to make her husband disappear, but because of the love of Kevin's family and the truly excellent work of the police, it didn't happen," Carmody declared.

Kevin Mengel was killed June 17, 2010 by several blows to the head delivered by Shappell, who briefly worked at the Mengels' landscaping company and who has pleaded guilty in the case. Shappell is due to be sentenced later this winter to a term of 40-to-80 years behind bars.

Authorities said the murder took place at the family's MKB Landscaping Co. shop on West Chester Pike in West Goshen. His body was hidden in a garage bay there, and later taken to a shallow grave near the Marple-Newtown High School in Delaware County, where Shappell, then 21, had attended school.

West Goshen police were able to arrest Shappell and Morgan Mengel several days later after discovering text messages sent between the two before, during, and after Shappell committed the crime.

"Just waiting for him to bend over, I have shovel in my hand ha-ha," Shappell wrote to Morgan Mengel about 10:30 a.m. on June 17, 2010, according to evidence in the case. "U backin out?" she responded. "It's done, get up here now," Shappell wrote.

"Seriously?" she asked. "Dead serious," he said.

In a statement to the court read by Morgan Mengel's defense attorney, Jack McMahon of Philadelphia, she attempted to atone for her crime.

"How does anyone say they are sorry to three children for the loss of their father?" Morgan Mengel asked, referring to the daughter and two sons she shared with Kevin Mengel, and who now live with their grandparents. "How am I supposed to make it better for two families?" her's and her husband's, who had been devastated by the murder.

"There is only one way I can, by taking responsibility today," McMahon read from the yellow legal paper on which Morgan Mengel wrote her statement. "I am sorry for so many things. I am hoping that by being held accountable for my actions, we are all able to move forward to some sort of healing."

Morgan Mengel's words, however, failed to convince her husband's family that she was truly sorry for what she had engineered. "There is no remorse here," said Kevin Mengel's mother, Kathleen Barton, after the hearing concluded.

The defendant, a small 37-year-old woman with dark brown hair pulled back from her head in a pony tail and dressed in a black pants suit with white blouse, entered guilty pleas for first degree murder, possession of instruments of crime, hindering apprehension, and criminal conspiracy. The murder charge carries with it a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

After Carmody recited a lengthy version of the evidence that West Goshen police and Chester County Detectives had amassed against Morgan Mengel - including mention of the text messages she and Shappell exchanged as he was bludgeoning Kevin Mengel to death with two shovels - Gavin asked her whether she agreed with them.

"Yes," she answered softly.
"It is your intention to enter a plea of guilty to murder in the first degree, is that correct?" Gavin asked later.

"It is," she said.
Although Carmody had asked Gavin, as sentencing judge, to add a term of 20-to-40 years in prison to the end of her mandatory life term, the judge declined, saying that he thought such sentences irrational. There is almost no chance that Morgan Mengel will ever be released from prison, he said.

In emotional statements to Gavin, Kevin Mengel's family let loose the anger, resentment, and sorrow that had been largely hidden from public view until now over his death.

"How dare you deprive my son Kevin of his God-given right to live his life and his right to die a natural death," said Kevin Mengel Sr., who after some years of conflict with his son had reached a happy rapprochement the spring before the murder. "How dare you force us to accept the horrendous burden of having to bury our child before ourselves."

"Today, you will receive the maximum justice that our laws allow for taking my son Kevin's life," his statement continued. "But my faith tells me and I am comforted in knowing that the real justice for what you have done will come in the afterlife. May you rot in hell for eternity."

Michelle Mengel Hopkins, the victim's sister, told her sister-in-law that she had never trusted her and had always been suspicious of her plans.

"I watched lie after lie," she said, in her statement. "Your evil knows no bounds. Just so you know, you never fooled me."

Chris Mengel, the victim's brother, whose suspicions about Shappell and Morgan Mengel led to a videotape of them executing their planned getaway, said he was at a loss to understand why his brother had been killed.

"He wanted his kids to have a stable family life," Chris Mengel said. "He loved the kids. It took his death to teach me what a great parent he was."

Kevin Mengel's mother, Kathleen Barton, who reported him missing to West Goshen police after not hearing from him for several days - a very unusual occurrence - spoke of the loss the family had felt from his death, but also of the joy they now have in reuniting.

"All that Kevin wanted was for all of us to be together. He wanted his children to know the feeling of family," she said. "It is wonderful that Kevin's dream came true, but sad that we will not share it with him. We all feel the love from Kevin. It is a memory that will never leave."

The plea came somewhat unexpectedly, as the two sides had chosen a jury Monday of eight women and four men to begin hearing the case Tuesday. The panel was in a sideroom waiting while the guilty plea hearing was conducted.

McMahon, leaving the courtroom, said the decision came last week.

"The decision to plead guilty was her idea, and came a couple of days ago," he said. "I think there was a desire to put some closure on it, for everybody - the kids, the Mengel family, and for Morgan herself.

"As with any attempt at reconciliation, the first step is to accept responsibility," McMahon said. "I think there is some hope here for that."

By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN
mrellahan@dailylocal.com

WEST CHESTER - Morgan Marie Mengel may have been considered a master manipulator and skilled liar but, investigators say, she was not a good criminal.

During their investigation of the murder of Kevin Mengel Jr., Morgan Mengel's husband of 13 years and father of her three children, it became clear that she had only a half-baked plan to blame the death on her young lover, Stephen Shappell. When that failed, she crumbled.

"She was stupid," said Chester County Chef Deputy District Attorney Patrick Carmody, who led the prosecution against Morgan Mengel and laid out the case against her as she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Tuesday. "I think her perspective was that if she ever got caught she'd blame Shappell for everything. He was her tool."

But the 37-year-old Morgan Mengel drew attention to herself and Shappell almost immediately after the murder, and was clumsy in faking e-mails and texts she tried to pass off as her husband's pleas to be left alone.

Mengel failed to realize the texts the two had sent one another about the murder that she thought were deleted were still available to police.

"If we didn't have the text messages, Shappell was set up to take the fall," Carmody noted. "Her Achilles Heel is her narcissism. She is so self-absorbed. But, you know, the jails are full of stupid criminals."

In the months leading up to the murder in June 2010, Morgan Mengel had grown tired of her marriage and wanted her husband to "vanish," Carmody said, in reciting the facts of the case to Senior Judge Thomas Gavin in support of the guilty plea. She did not want a divorce, believing that Kevin Mengel and his mother, Kathleen Barton, would be granted custody, leaving her without any money.

She made some attempts at finding someone to kill him, but was unsuccessful until she met the 21-year-old Shappell, 15 years her junior, who had come to work at the Mengels' MKB Landscaping Co. that spring. She began seducing him, and by Memorial Day Weekend had begun an affair.

She fought with her husband on June 15, and two days later put into motion the murder plot with Shappell. He bought liquid nicotine and laced a Snapple drink with it, intending to poison Kevin Mengel at work. She told him to bring along some shovels in case that failed, which it did. Shappell struck Kevin Mengel repeatedly over the head, and he collapsed on the floor of the company's garage.

Morgan Mengel helped Shappell clean up the garage but the pair had no initial idea of where to dispose the body. Not until June 21, 2010, did Shappell take the body to a wooded area near his former high school, Marple Newtown, to bury it.

Meanwhile, Morgan Mengel was attempting to convince her husband's mother and friends that he had left her and her children, saying he wanted `to be alone." She sent text messages to them as coming from his cell phone, but used her own style of writing instead of his, drawing suspicion. Even more, she allowed Shappell to move into the couple's apartment at the Gold Club complex.

When West Goshen Detective David Maurer and Officer Michael Carroll began asking questions, Mengel and Shappell at first tried to deny their affair. But Shappell broke down and admitted it, and later so did Mengel. The investigators' suspicions were raised that this was not a missing person's case.

On June 24, 2010, the pair decided to try to leave and go on the run. But instead they met Maurer at the landscaping garage, and Shappell panicked. After hours of questioning and confrontation with the text messages they had exchanged - pulled by West Goshen Detective Darren Sedlak from their cell phone accounts - she confessed.

"It's extremely cold blooded," said Carmody.

Morgan Mengel's final mistake was to attempt to convince Shappell that she had delivered twin sons of his, and that he should tell police that she was blameless in the murder so she could raise them. But police intercepted letters about the "birth" and were able to show Shappell that Morgan Mengel was lying to him.

Shortly thereafter, he agreed to testify against her.

PHILADELPHIA - A West Chester district judge named last week in a sweeping federal "ticket fixing" indictment pleaded not guilty to fraud charges in federal court Monday, according to a Department of Justice spokeswoman.

Mark A. Bruno, who presides over District Court 15-1-01, pleaded not guilty in an initial appearance at United States District Court in Philadelphia. On Friday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspended Bruno without pay amid accusations that he participated in what officials called "a fraud conspiracy that involved a frequent and pervasive `ticket-fixing' at the Philadelphia Traffic Court."

Bruno was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and aiding and abetting. According to a statement from the Justice Department, if convicted Bruno could face up to 60 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $750,000 fine.

Bruno was allowed to remain free on bail pending unsecured nominal bail, travel restrictions, and orders to surrender any firearms and his passport. He is also not permitted to have any contact with the case's witnesses or codefendants unless counsel is present.

A call to Bruno's attorney, Vincent DiFabio of Paoli, was not immediately returned Monday.

In Bruno's absence, former Magisterial District Judge Stanley Scott is presiding over District Court 15-1-01. Scott, a former sergeant with the Uwchlan Police Department, first became a district judge in 1984 and retired in 2010.

Follow Daily Local News staff writer Michael N. Price on Twitter @MikePriceWrites and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/michaelnprice

TREDYFFRIN - Police have announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for last week's armed robbery and kidnapping of a Montgomery County jewelry store owner.

Tredyffrin Police Department Detective Sgt. Todd Bereda said Tuesday that investigators received multiple "helpful" tips after area residents saw media reports detailing the kidnapping of an East Norriton jewelry store owner.

Investigators are now pursuing those leads, Bereda said, and hope those and the new reward will lead to a break in the case soon.

The investigation began at around 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 when Tredyffrin police officers were called to a home in the 200 block of Wooded Way, in Tredyffrin's Berwyn section, for reports of a home invasion robbery and kidnapping.

Police said four masked men, armed with handguns, forced their way into the home and tied up the husband and wife victims before ransacking the home. They then forced the man into his white Volkswagen Passatt and drove him to his jewelry store. Police believe some of the suspects followed behind in another vehicle, thought to be a silver or blue sedan possibly made by Chrysler.

No injuries were reported during the incident, police said. Investigators are asking for help from the public in locating the victim's Volkswagen with registration number DJM0696.

Police said one of the assailants made comments revealing an interest in Rolex watches, and investigators are now examining "smash and grab" robberies in the region that may be connected to the incident.

The reward was announced on behalf of the Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co. and the Pennsylvania Jeweler's Association.

Follow Daily Local News staff writer Michael N. Price on Twitter @MikePriceWrites on Facebook at www.facebook.com/michaelnprice

Instead of the court system, first-time juvenile offenders in Easttown could soon have another option for restitution and resolution.

At its Feb. 19 meeting, the Easttown Board of Supervisors will decide whether to implement the Youth Aid Panel through Media's Center for Resolutions, a nonprofit mediation service for Chester and Delaware counties.

At Monday night's board meeting, members heard a presentation by Youth Aid Panel Coordinator Joan Taylor, supplemented by Easttown Police Sgt. David Felker, who brought the idea to Chief David Ozbud.

"This is a good alternative," Felker said. "We were all kids, and we all made mistakes or were at the wrong place at the wrong time. This is an opportunity to take those kids, keep them out of the courts, but still have them pay for their offenses.

"I've always said this is the perfect community for this program."

With the Youth Aid Panel, those under 18 years old who are arrested for summary-level, non-traffic offenses are eligible for the program, but only once. Summary offenses include underage drinking, minor thefts, disorderly conduct, harassment, curfew violation, trespassing and criminal mischief.

The offender's eligibility is decided by the individual making the arrest.

"The arresting officer gets to make the call," Felker said. "If the child is so arrogant, so disruptive, the officer can tell them they have to go to court instead."

After admitting their guilt or role in the offense, selectees sign an agreement to complete the program. One of the early steps is writing an apology letter to their parents.

"The kid has done something, and the parents haven't," Taylor said. "The parents have to go through the whole thing, so it kind of starts the healing process."

The panel itself is made up of community members, with no law enforcement or elected officials allowed. Taylor said it is designed as a mentorship program, where the volunteers are given 12 hours of training prior to active duty, which typically amounts to five hours or less per month.

Other restitution tasks for offenders include community service and reading and essay assignments, with the goal of making the juveniles understand their actions and the consequences, as well as pointing them toward the future.

Taylor said 95 percent of participants successfully complete the program, while 12 percent become re-offenders, less than the rate of those who go through court. After completion, the arrest is erased from the offender's record.

Cost to the township is $1,000 for the first year and $500 in subsequent years to cover training. In Chester County, Taylor said East Vincent, West Vincent and Caln townships, along with Phoenixville borough, participate in the program.

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EAST CALN - The Downingtown Area School District is again receiving an Aaa rating from Moody's, in anticipation of selling its General Obligation Bonds from 2010.

Along with the top rating, Moody's Investors Services also gave the district a stable outlook on its $96.7 million of outstanding General Obligation debt. The bonds' sale amount is set at $21.5 million.

According to the district's Chief Financial Officer Richard Fazio, the bonds were structured so they would be sold to investors every three years.

The debt was incurred by the district for the sixth grade center being built on the Shamona Creek campus.

According to Fazio, the district is expecting to pay a lower fee from the original terms, resulting in about $250,000 of savings for the district.

According to the report, the triple-A rating reflects the district's management of its finance situation, which it said is characterized by "healthy reserve levels, sizable residential tax base with above-average wealth indicators, and manageable debt position."

According to the report, the district's debt position will remain manageable. Any significant deterioration of the district's reserves or a substantial reduction to the tax base would make the district's rating go down.

The Moody's rating system works like a report card for a municipality or school district, providing investors with a simple system to grade future creditworthiness of public entities.

Downingtown is one of only six districts in Pennsylvania with an Aaa rating from Moody's.

Follow Daily Local News staff reporter Sara Mosqueda-Fernandez on Twitter @DailyLocalSara.

WESTTOWN - Police are investigating a string of thefts from unlocked vehicles that occurred early Monday morning and are urging residents to lock up their homes and cars.

According to Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department Lt. William Cahill, at least six unlocked vehicles were entered between midnight and 7 a.m. Monday morning on several residential streets, including East Street Road, Westbourne Road and Carrie Lane. All of the thefts were reported in the area of the Westtown Post Office. No forced entry was reported in any of the incidents.

"We are actively investigating these incidents and are working with area law enforcement agencies to catch those responsible," Cahill said. "We urge all residents to help prevent further crimes by locking their vehicles and homes and removing valuables from cars overnight."

Investigators believe the person responsible for the thefts was working alone and was riding a bicycle, most likely a mountain bike, from home to home. Police asked anyone who observes bicyclists riding during the early morning hours to contact police immediately.

Anyone with information related to these incidents is asked to contact the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department at 610-692-5100.

Follow Daily Local News staff writer Michael N. Price on Twitter @MikePriceWrites and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/michaelnprice

POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - The City of Philadelphia says the company that makes Yuengling beer owes $6.6 million in back taxes.

The city filed a lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday, saying Pottsville-based D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc. has failed to pay business-related taxes, fees and penalties since December 2008.

Yuengling's chief operating officer, David A. Casinelli, tells the Republican-Herald of Pottsville he believes it has to do with a dispute the brewery has had with the city over the business privilege tax. The company sells its products in the Philadelphia area through an independent distributor.

A spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter declined comment.

In recent months, the cash-strapped city has been cracking down on unpaid taxes in an attempt to generate more revenue.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Postal Service will stop delivering mail on Saturdays but continue to deliver packages six days a week under a plan aimed at saving about $2 billion annually, the financially struggling agency says.

In an announcement scheduled for later Wednesday, the service is expected to say the Saturday mail cutback would begin in August.

The move accentuates one of the agency's strong points - package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010, officials say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has declined with the increasing use of email and other Internet services.

Under the new plan, mail would be delivered to homes and businesses only from Monday through Friday, but would still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays. Post offices now open on Saturdays would remain open on Saturdays.

Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages - and it repeatedly but unsuccessfully appealed to Congress to approve the move. Though an independent agency, the service gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.

It was not immediately clear how the service could eliminate Saturday mail without congressional approval.

But the agency clearly thinks it has a majority of the American public on its side regarding the change.

Material prepared for the Wednesday press conference by Patrick R. Donahoe, postmaster general and CEO, says Postal Service market research and other research has indicated that nearly 7 in 10 Americans support the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs.

"The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America's changing mailing habits," Donahoe said in a statement prepared for the announcement. "We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings."

The Postal Service is making the announcement Wednesday, more than six months before the switch, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust, the statement said.

"The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation," Donahoe said. "The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail."

He said the change would mean a combination of employee reassignment and attrition and is expected to achieve cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually when fully implemented.

The agency in November reported an annual loss of a record $15.9 billion for the last budget year and forecast more red ink in 2013, capping a tumultuous year in which it was forced to default on billions in retiree health benefit prepayments to avert bankruptcy.

The financial losses for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 were more than triple the $5.1 billion loss in the previous year. Having reached its borrowing limit, the mail agency is operating with little cash on hand.

The agency's biggest problem - and the majority of the red ink in 2012 - was not due to reduced mail flow but rather to mounting mandatory costs for future retiree health benefits, which made up $11.1 billion of the losses. Without that and other related labor expenses, the mail agency sustained an operating loss of $2.4 billion, lower than the previous year.

The health payments are a requirement imposed by Congress in 2006 that the post office set aside $55 billion in an account to cover future medical costs for retirees. The idea was to put $5.5 billion a year into the account for 10 years. That's $5.5 billion the post office doesn't have.

No other government agency is required to make such a payment for future medical benefits. Postal authorities wanted Congress to address the issue last year, but lawmakers finished their session without getting it done. So officials are moving ahead to accelerate their own plan for cost-cutting.

The Postal Service is in the midst of a major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, it has cut annual costs by about $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or by 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations, officials say.

They say that while the change in the delivery schedule announced Wednesday is one of the actions needed to restore the financial health of the service, they still urgently need lawmakers to act. Officials say they continue to press for legislation that will give them greater flexibility to control costs and make new revenues.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police say a car crashed through a fence at a US Airways maintenance facility at the Philadelphia International Airport, nearly missing a parked plane.

WPVI-TV reports the crash happened around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and that no one was hurt. Airport officials say no flights were affected.

Investigators say the driver lost control and went through the fence. The car ended up stopping a few feet from an Airbus 320 in the maintenance facility area.

Accident investigators were on the scene, trying to determine exactly what happened.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police say a northeast Philadelphia deli owner killed a robbery suspect during an exchange of gunfire.

A police spokeswoman says an unidentified man tried to rob Anna's Deli in the Tacony section of the city just after 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Police said the suspect exchanged fire with the 55-year-old store owner and was shot once in the chest.

An emergency services medic pronounced him dead at the scene just after 6:20 p.m. Tuesday. The store owner was uninjured.

Police said no arrests have been made.

DENVER (AP) - Two children under 10 years old and a woman were killed, and a third child was wounded in an apparent shooting at a house in the northeast part of the Denver, police said Wednesday.

That child is in critical condition, said police Lt. Matt Murray.

Investigators are waiting for a warrant to re-enter the house.

"It appears to be an isolated incident. We are talking to people, we are now talking to witnesses, but we have no indication that there is a shooter out there on the loose in Denver," Murray said.

The neighborhood is in an industrial area, surrounded by warehouses and a trucking terminal, near the National Western Stock Show complex.

Neighbor Debbie Martinez said the house was recently sold.

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Information from: KUSA-TV, http://www.9news.com

EAST NORRITON (AP) - Residents have helped police find the stolen car authorities say was used in the kidnapping and robbery of an eastern Pennsylvania jeweler.

WPVI-TV reports (http://bit.ly/UuV0UO) neighbors spotted the Volkswagen Passat parked near their homes in East Norriton since Thursday. Police hope it may contain evidence that will lead them to four suspects who kidnapped the jeweler from his home and robbed his jewelry store, Shuler's Jewelers, on Jan. 31.

Investigators say the suspects accosted the man in the driveway of his home, tied him up with duct tape and drove him to the jewelry store in his car. Police say he was then forced to open two safes and the thieves got off with $1.5 million in jewelry. The victim wasn't hurt.

A $25,000 reward was announced Tuesday.

___
Information from: The (Easton, Pa.) Express-Times, http://www.lehighvalleylive.com

WEST CHESTER - Morgan Marie Mengel may have been considered a master manipulator and skilled liar but, investigators say, she was not a good criminal.

During their investigation of the murder of Kevin Mengel Jr., Morgan Mengel's husband of 13 years and father of her three children, it became clear that she had only a half-baked plan to blame the death on her young lover, Stephen Shappell. When that failed, she crumbled.

"She was stupid," said Chester County Chef Deputy District Attorney Patrick Carmody, who led the prosecution against Morgan Mengel and laid out the case against her as she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Tuesday. "I think her perspective was that if she ever got caught she'd blame Shappell for everything. He was her tool."

But the 37-year-old Morgan Mengel drew attention to herself and Shappell almost immediately after the murder, and was clumsy in faking e-mails and texts she tried to pass off as her husband's pleas to be left alone.

Mengel failed to realize the texts the two had sent one another about the murder that she thought were deleted were still available to police.

"If we didn't have the text messages, Shappell was set up to take the fall," Carmody noted. "Her Achilles Heel is her narcissism. She is so self-absorbed. But, you know, the jails are full of stupid criminals."

In the months leading up to the murder in June 2010, Morgan Mengel had grown tired of her marriage and wanted her husband to "vanish," Carmody said, in reciting the facts of the case to Senior Judge Thomas Gavin in support of the guilty plea. She did not want a divorce, believing that Kevin Mengel and his mother, Kathleen Barton, would be granted custody, leaving her without any money.

She made some attempts at finding someone to kill him, but was unsuccessful until she met the 21-year-old Shappell, 15 years her junior, who had come to work at the Mengels' MKB Landscaping Co. that spring. She began seducing him, and by Memorial Day Weekend had begun an affair.

She fought with her husband on June 15, and two days later put into motion the murder plot with Shappell. He bought liquid nicotine and laced a Snapple drink with it, intending to poison Kevin Mengel at work. She told him to bring along some shovels in case that failed, which it did. Shappell struck Kevin Mengel repeatedly over the head, and he collapsed on the floor of the company's garage.

Morgan Mengel helped Shappell clean up the garage but the pair had no initial idea of where to dispose the body. Not until June 21, 2010, did Shappell take the body to a wooded area near his former high school, Marple Newtown, to bury it.

Meanwhile, Morgan Mengel was attempting to convince her husband's mother and friends that he had left her and her children, saying he wanted `to be alone." She sent text messages to them as coming from his cell phone, but used her own style of writing instead of his, drawing suspicion. Even more, she allowed Shappell to move into the couple's apartment at the Gold Club complex.

When West Goshen Detective David Maurer and Officer Michael Carroll began asking questions, Mengel and Shappell at first tried to deny their affair. But Shappell broke down and admitted it, and later so did Mengel. The investigators' suspicions were raised that this was not a missing person's case.

On June 24, 2010, the pair decided to try to leave and go on the run. But instead they met Maurer at the landscaping garage, and Shappell panicked. After hours of questioning and confrontation with the text messages they had exchanged - pulled by West Goshen Detective Darren Sedlak from their cell phone accounts - she confessed.

"It's extremely cold blooded," said Carmody.

Morgan Mengel's final mistake was to attempt to convince Shappell that she had delivered twin sons of his, and that he should tell police that she was blameless in the murder so she could raise them. But police intercepted letters about the "birth" and were able to show Shappell that Morgan Mengel was lying to him.

Shortly thereafter, he agreed to testify against her.

When it comes to chocolate, the good stuff doesn't come cheap. To find the ultimate chocolate experience, in time for Valentine's Day, taste testers at ShopSmart, the shopping magazine from Consumer Reports, nibbled on thousands of boxed bonbons, from hand-crafted assortments going for $90 a pound to a $10 Whitman's Sampler.

According to tests, you'll have to shell out at least $26 a box for the good stuff. But there's lots to choose from in the $40-and-up range, including exotic flavors such as mango and chili pepper. ShopSmart's top pick this year is Woodhouse Chocolate Assortment, which beat Norman Love Confections for the first time.

Though chocolatiers rarely run sales, there are ways to save. To avoid shipping costs (which can add a lot to the final price, especially if you order in the summertime, when rates are higher), go online to see if there's a retail store near you. Also, sign up for e-newsletters, which may include coupons. And check the chocolate maker's website for cheaper shipping options.

One more tip: Can't eat nuts or hate the gooey, fruity centers? Ask whether the retailer will customize a box for you - many will!

LOVE AT FIRST BITE
Here are six sweet selections to consider for your loved ones this Valentine's Day (prices do not include shipping):

- Woodhouse Chocolate Assortment (16 ounces, 48 pieces), $90. Deemed the yummiest in ShopSmart's taste tests, these chocolates were bursting with flavors like cinnamon toast, pecan pie, mint and real whipped cream fillings. Visit woodhousechocolate.com.

- Candinas (16 ounces, 36 pieces), $49. A mix of dark and milk chocolates that are ultra-smooth, with yummy hazelnut, caramel and liqueur-flavored centers that hint of fresh cream and butter. Visit candinas.com.

- L.A. Burdick Large Wood Box Assortment (16 ounces, 64 pieces), $65. ShopSmart's tasters made note of these bonbons' intense chocolate flavor with subtler fillings such as cherry liquor and hazelnut. Visit burdickchocolate.com.

- Fran's Assorted Truffles Collection (12 ounces, 36 pieces), $50. These milk- and dark-chocolate truffles have delicious chocolate-based fillings of hazelnut, coffee and caramel flavors. Visit franschocolates.com.

- Vosges Exotic Truffle Collection (6.4 ounces, 16 pieces), $40. This delicious mix of traditional and unusual flavors (curry, paprika and wasabi) is well worth the taste bud shock, say ShopSmart's tasters. Visit vosgeschocolate.com.

- Theo Chocolate Confection Collection (4.5 ounces, 12 pieces), $26. Flavorful, dark chocolate encases outstanding fillings of lemon ganache, fig, mint and more. Visit theochocolate.com.

WEST CHESTER - Phillip DiMatteo - described by one prosecutor as a vending machine for dispensing illegal drugs in Coatesville - was sentenced Wednesday to 15-to-30 years in prison.

"Drugs are a scourge on society today, and you are part of that problem," Common Pleas Court Judge Phyllis Streitel told DiMatteo before handing down her sentence in his case, one of about 20 she has presided over involving the cocaine ring police say he operated in 2010 and 2011.

"This is a very grave offense, and destroys the fabric of everyday living," Streitel told DiMatteo as members of his family looked on from the courtroom. "It's a dangerous business. You knew it was wrong, you knew it was illegal. You knew it was dangerous, but yet you did it anyway. I will never understand why."

Streitel's sentence was half the 30 to 60 years in state prison the prosecution had asked for, and slightly less than what was given another man who the defense said was more of a drug kingpin than DiMatteo.

Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kelly, who prosecuted DiMatteo and the others in the drug ring dismantled by members of the Chester County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area unit, declined comment on Streitel's sentence after the two-hour long hearing, at which he said DiMatteo had risen to "the top of the heap" in drug dealing after starting a life in the business at 16.

"We have to respect the decision of the court," Kelly said.

DiMatteo's attorney, Evan Kelly of West Chester, who is not related to the prosecutor, said he hoped the sentence would give his client some hope that he could restart his life when he is released.

"I think it was a fair sentence, and I thank the judge for her consideration," Evan Kelly said outside the courtroom. "He will have another shot at life in 15 to 30 years."

That, essentially, was what DiMatteo asked Streitel for in his brief statement to the court before she imposed her sentence. "I've been in jail for 28 months," he said, wearing navy prison clothing and sporting a tattoo on his neck that read, "Trust no one."

"I've lost everything. I just pray that I get a second chance to turn my life around."

DiMatteo, 25, was the center of a drug trafficking operation that he ran from a townhouse at the Regency Apartments in Coatesville, where he lived with his girlfriend and his three children. After police identified him as a drug dealer in 2010, authorities obtained court permission to wiretap his cell phone. On the wire, they picked up dozens and dozens of calls to and from DiMatteo's associates from March 2010 to June 2010 in which they openly discussed buying and selling both powder cocaine, known as "sizzy," and crack cocaine, known as "hizzy."

At a trial for two of the men who bought cocaine from DiMatteo so that they could cut it down to size and sell it on the street, Stephen Kelly said DiMatteo was involved in selling drugs from the time he woke up in the morning until he went to bed at night.

"Mr. DiMatteo was like the vending machine for cocaine in Chester County, Coatesville, and the surrounding area," Kelly had said during a trial involving two of his associates last month. "People went to his home to buy coke."

In a sentencing memorandum filed with Streitel, Stephen Kelly asked her to sentence him to 30-to-60 years "for distributing tens of thousands of dosage units of cocaine per month to people in our community." Anything less, he said, "would depreciate the severity and gravity of the defendant's offenses."

But Evan Kelly, arguing for a lesser sentence, told Streitel that his counterpart had offered a 20-to-40 year term as part of plea negotiations in the weeks leading up to DiMatteo's guilty plea on 56 counts of delivery of a controlled substance, conspiracy, and running a corrupt organization.

The defense attorney also took issue with DiMatteo's characterization as head of a drug ring. The real kingpin, he argued, was a Kennett Square man, Luis Rodriguez-Cruz, who had been arrested in March 2010 and sentenced to 18-to-36 years. DiMatteo, he said, was only a lieutenant in Rodriguez-Cruz's organization.

The operation had been targeted in the fall of 2009, when the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area unit began its investigation. Involved in the case were the state police, Coatesville police, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Chester County Municipal Drug Task Force.

In court for the sentencing on Wednesday were state Trooper Joseph Fanning, Coatesville Detective Michael Raech, West Chester Officer Chris Craig, East Whiteland Detective Patricia Logic, and retired Chester County Det. Sgt. Joseph Daniels, who had overseen the investigation.

Daniels praised the work of the investigators involved in the case, saying it remained among his favorite assignments over his long career.

"We took several different law enforcement agencies and they put their organization differences behind them and made it work," Daniels told a reporter afterwards. "I am really proud of the team work involved. I hope they continue to do the same good work."

In some way, it was ironic that DiMatteo would be involved in such a high level drug dealing operation. His father had died a drug addict when DiMatteo was only 7, Streitel noted.

Donna Burgess, DiMatteo's mother, speaking on his behalf, said she had spent many "sleepless night trying to keep him safe," as a child. "But I had to let him go in order for him to become a man.

"This here is just a stumbling block for him," she said of the prosecution. "When he comes out, he will be a far better man than what he has been. And we will do everything we can for him."

WEST CHESTER - Two Chester city men are behind bars for their alleged roles in the shooting death of a 24-year-old borough man late last month, police said Wednesday.

Sergio Droz, 20, and Anthony Brightwell Jr., 24, were arrested for allegedly taking part in the slaying of Jamal Ahmed Scott around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 25 near Matlack and Union streets. Scott was sitting in a vehicle when he was shot once in the chest and later died after driving himself to the hospital, according to the West Chester Police Department.

According to a criminal complaint filed by arresting officers, investigators believe Scott was killed during a robbery. An unnamed witness told police that they had spoken with both suspects on the night of the murder, and that they had said they intended to purchase marijuana from Scott, the complaint said.

According to that witness, Brightwell entered Scott's vehicle in the 200 block of South Matlack Street and allegedly fired one shot after the car was parked. Immediately after that shot, the witness told police, Droz walked to the driver side door and allegedly fired three shots at Scott, striking him once in the chest.

A second unnamed witness also offered police a similar account of the shootings, according to the complaint. Video surveillance from the area shows Droz and Brightwell in the area before the shooting and shows Brightwell entering Scott's vehicle just prior to the shootings, the complaint said.

Police said three spent 9 mm shell casings were recovered in the area, and three bullet holes were visible in the driver's door of Scott's vehicle. A fourth bullet hole was visible in the car's roof, according to the complaint.

West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn expressed hope the arrests would provide residents with a sense of security, and stressed the fatal shooting was not a random act of violence.

"This is an important arrest for the public's feelings about their own safety and the performance of their police department," Bohn said, noting that robbery was a likely motive. "This was not a random crime, nor a crime of opportunity."

Police said Scott, of the 500 block of East Barnard Street, drove himself to Chester County Hospital for treatment after he was shot and was later transported by helicopter to Paoli Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Both Droz and Brightwell were charged with criminal homicide and a slew of related charges including firearms violations, conspiracy, and robbery. Both men were denied bail and transported to Chester County Prison, according to court records.

Bohn expressed concern over several recent incidents in the borough involving firearms. Several armed robberies and shootings have been reported in the borough in recent months, an amount that Bohn said was "not the norm" for West Chester.

"The full weight of this police department will be brought to bear in the investigation of these crimes," Bohn said.

Both Bohn and Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan praised the police officers and detectives who coordinated the investigation that led to the arrests.

"This was an excellent and well-coordinated investigation by West Chester Police Department, the Chester County Detectives, the City of Chester Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies," Hogan said. "These two defendants from outside of Chester County found out the hard way what criminals here already know, if you commit a crime in Chester County, you will be caught. We never slow down, we never take a day off, and we never quit until the bad guys are locked up."

Scott's slaying marked the first homicide of 2013 in Chester County. According to his Facebook page, he was a 2006 graduate of West Chester East High School.

The investigation is ongoing.
Follow Daily Local News staff writer Michael N. Price on Twitter @MikePriceWrites and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/michaelnprice

Safeguard Scientifics Inc., a Tredyffrin-based holding company that provides growth capital and operational support to health care and technology companies, deployed $1.33 million as part of a $14.8 million financing for Sotera Wireless Inc.

A San Diego, Calif.-based medical device company, Sotera developed a new wireless patient monitoring platform called ViSi Mobile.

Sotera will use the proceeds from the financing to build out its sales network and channel distribution partners.

"With $14.8 million in additional capital, we believe that we can accelerate our commercialization and clinical development, and expand the availability of ViSi Mobile to the more than 5,000 hospitals in the United States," said Tom Watlington, CEO of Sotera.

A Safeguard representative has joined Sotera's board of directors.

INCOME: Malvern Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Malvern Federal Savings Bank, on Wednesday reported fiscal 2013 first quarter net income of $671,000, or 11 cents, for the three month ending Dec. 31 compared to $1.3 million, or 20 cents, for the year-ago period.

The company's net interest income for the period was $4.0 million, a decrease of $582,000 compared to the same period 2011.

Founded in 1887, the bank is headquartered in Paoli and operates eight branches in Chester and Delaware counties.

ROADWAYS: Pennsylvania AAA officials on Wednesday announced a campaign to urge state officials to boost funding for the state's ailing transportation system.

Coming on the heels of the state budget address, the campaign will include 20 billboards in southeast Pennsylvania, with the following message: "Keep us safe. Keep us strong. Fix PA Roads."

The billboards, located in Philadelphia, Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties, include a link to AAA's transportation funding information website, www.makingamericastronger.aaa.com.

The Philadelphia region's traffic congestion is also draining motorists' wallets, costing the average commuter an extra $1,018 a year.

A new study by the Texas Transportation Institute finds the typical Philly-area commuter wastes 48 hours in traffic, burning 23 extra gallons of gas annually. Better transportation funding could provide more money for projects to relieve traffic congestion.

RECALL: Mitsubishi is recalling 14,700 of its i-MiEV (EYE-meev) electric cars worldwide because a brake pump can fail.

The automaker said Tuesday that the recall affects 2012 models made from Dec. 2, 2011 through Sept. 7, 2012. It covers 1,400 cars sold in the U.S., including those still on dealer lots.

Mitsubishi said in documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that a defective vacuum pump can stop working. That can reduce braking power, increase stopping distances and raise the risk of a crash.

Mitsubishi said no crashes or injuries have been reported.

PAOLI - With a student body that has a wide range of learning disabilities, the Delaware Valley Friends School is always on the lookout for innovative methods of instruction. On Wednesday, the school's teachers got a look at what could transform the way lessons are taught, there and elsewhere.

Harvard University professor Brian Lukoff, Delaware Valley Friends' teachers Steve Cooney and Sam Steinberg, and technology director Bob Sager demonstrated Learning Catalytics, an interactive software program designed by Harvard physicist Eric Mazur.

Delaware Valley Friends is one of only a few high schools in the country currently using the technology, and the only school for students with learning differences.

As part of the new wave of flip-teaching, the program allows instructors to engage students in peer learning, with immediate feedback from their lap tops or smart phones.

"The instruction methods with the teachers in this school blend very well with the product, because they were already kind of doing the flipped-classroom idea here," Sager said. "Here there isn't a lot of homework, and there's more of a focus on the individual and interaction in the classroom, because each student has a defined need and parents or others might not be able to help solve problems at home."

Sager, Cooney and Delaware Valley Friends' business manager Bob Mueller discovered Learning Catalytics at a conference led by Mazur in Boston last January. Within two weeks, Cooney was using it in his physics class to introduce, reinforce and review material. He found it especially useful in exam preparation.

"I can do a session in class, then set up a copy of it that stays open online," Cooney said. "They can revisit the same problems, and when they submit an answer, they get a note from me about what the correct answer is and why it's the correct answer."

Once he got a look at it, social studies teacher Sam Steinberg jumped on board as well. Steinberg finds its non-lecture-based approach fits his students perfectly.

"It is very effective when teaching our population of student, and that can't be said for other methods of instruction," Steinberg said. "Whereas retention from lecture is minimal, retention from peer instruction is at the other end of the spectrum, so we've seen tremendous benefits with its usage."

Learning Catalytics builds upon Delaware Valley Friends' multi-sensory approach to teaching. Unlike previous generations of in-class interactive software, it allows for many more question options than just multiple-choice. Some include highlighting answers within selected text, written answers, ranking of choices and a word cloud.

After answers are given by students, they are typically asked to debate them with their classmates.

"What peer instruction does is create a middle step, where after your get the answer to a question, you ask them to turn to their neighbor and discuss who's right and wrong," Lukoff said. "Or maybe sometimes there isn't an absolute right answer, and you just engage discussion, then ask the question again."

Learning Catalytics is in a constant state of evolution.

"The programs have expanded a hundred-fold since I first saw it last year," Cooney said.

While the entire faculty at Delaware Valley Friends got a look at the program on Wednesday, Lukoff, Cooney, Steinberg and Sager will take their show on the road later this month, by giving a presentation at the National Business Officers Association conference in Philadelphia.

Sager believes the program is the future of education.

"That's where it's heading," Sager said. "It's starting to become a reality that this is the best way to learn."

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WEST CHESTER - One year after Alexis Stinson was named Miss West Chester University, it is time for her to pass the crown as the university prepares to honor a new student at the 15th annual event Saturday.

Beginning at 7:30 p.m., the fully staged event will take place in Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall of Philips Memorial Building on the university's campus.

At the pageant, each contestant will be put through an interview, showcase a talent and dress in evening and casual wear. Though it contains many of the same categories of a pageant, 40 percent of the scoring is placed on the interview process.

This year's competition features 22 students out of the more than 40 who applied.

"It's the most ever we have had, it's really exciting for us," said Michael Hartman, event director and founder.

Hartman said contestants are given 10 minutes for the interview portion of the pageant, which is run like a press conference. Talents featured at the event include singing, a variety of dancing, musical performances and many others that will showcase the contestant's unique backgrounds, personality and abilities.

This year the on-stage question will come from a former Miss WCU, and contestants will draw the questions at random.

"Who knows the job better than someone who went through it for a year," Hartman said. "So you get a sense of what their year was like."

Each contestant will also choose a community service platform they are passionate about for the pageant. They are then provided opportunities to present their work, ideas and goals to the judges, other contestants and audience members to spread awareness of their platform.

As a way of celebrating the 15 years the event has been on campus, Hartman said this year's event will be a reflection, incorporating elements such as a video montage to honor the past winners and contestants. Twelve of the 14 winners will attend the event.

Hartman said it was interesting to look back through the photos to see how much has changed in 15 years.

"It's crazy to think of the time we didn't really have digital cameras so I had to scan a lot of photos in," Hartman said.

Originally from Ocean City, N.J., Hartman said he came up with the idea for the pageant 14 years ago as a way to bring students and the community closer together.

"I thought, `how do you get people out of their bedrooms other than free food,' " said Hartman, who added he thought the event would be a good way to combine school spirit and community service.

Stinson, a 21-year-old senior in pharmaceutical product development, said the highlight of her time as Miss WCU was her trip to South Africa last summer where she worked in two orphanages. Stinson ran on the platform of "Aid to South Africa".

"I really had a desire and a passion for it," Stinson said.

Hartman said he was happy to see how Stinson took the title to a global scale and the way the children in Africa reacted to her.

Originally from Lancaster County, Stinson said she heard about the competition through word of mouth on campus and thought she would give it a shot.

When the judges made their decision last year, Stinson said she had a hard time hearing her name called through the noise in the venue.

"I was so thankful, I couldn't really believe it, but it was a really good feeling," Stinson said.

The advice Stinson said she would give to the contestants this year is simply to get to know the other girls and develop friendships.

"They are really great people, get to know them and have fun," Stinson said.

Hartman said the event is special because of the relationships it builds with the alumni, but mostly for all of the people who get involved.

"Everyone is the best of the best, you get to highlight some really strong women active in community," Hartman said.

Last year's event nearly sold out the more than 1,000 seats in the venue and Hartman said he is anticipating even more interest with the added contestants this year.

"One of the best parts every year, you see the look on the contestants' faces," Hartman said. "They are not the typical dance, theater majors; the look on their faces is truly priceless, it's like a rock concert."

Tickets are available at the door: $8 for General Admission and $3 for students and children, with proceeds benefiting the newly crowned Miss WCU's service platform.

Follow Daily Local News staff writer Jeremy Gerrard on Twitter @JeremyGerrard.