Oct 31, 2018 2 min read

A Uniontown man facing sentencing for a police chase last spring told a Washington County judge of his heroin addiction and asked for a chance to be rehabilitated.

Joshua Kefover, 33, said when he began smoking marijuana at age 12, his first “bust” caused his father to eject him from their home.

A knee injury and surgery at age 17 led to him to drop out of school, then to heroin addiction and a string of thefts.

“I’ve never been to treatment. I’ve never been to rehab,” he told Judge Valarie Costanzo Monday afternoon. “I’ve never had an opportunity to get clean…. I’m just tired of living this life.”

He entered guilty pleas over the summer and the judge deferred sentencing until the Washington County adult probation office completed a presentence investigation.

For fleeing or attempting to elude police, a third-degree felony, Kefover was sentenced to two to four years, and for reckless endangerment, one to two years consecutively in a state prison.

The charges stemmed from a police chase March 24 that started in Charleroi, went through Carroll Township, and ended on Toll 43 in Union Township.

Carroll police said speeds on the toll road reached about 130 mph, and at one point, Kefover’s car crashed into three vehicles on Finleyville-Elrama Road in Union.

For third-degree felony retail theft from Miller Hardware, 4276 Washington Road, on Feb. 21, Costanzo ordered Kefover to spend two to four years on probation and pay restitution.

Peters Township police filed the charges in connection with the theft of four Yeti coolers.

Costanzo, as part of Kefover’s sentencing order, recommended that the stat Department of Corrections evaluate him for treatment of drug and/or alcohol addiction. Sheriff’s deputies were to take him to the State Correctional Institution at Greene County for classification.

Court records show Kefover previously lived in Roscoe and Monongahela.