Heiss, Steve: 2005
On August 28, 2005, three men were gunned down in front of the UVA in Altoona. They were Alfred Mignoga, the owner of the club; Fred Rickabaugh, his bouncer; and Stephen Heiss, an off-duty Blair County Prison Guard. The shooter was an illegal immigrant, Miguel Padilla. The club was private and for members only; Padilla tried to get in just before two in the morning, was denied, went to his car, and returned with a gun. On his return, he murdered the three men.
Al Mignon was a retired teacher who owned both the UVA club and the Belmar Hotel.
He entered the United States at the age of 9, and attended tax-payer funded schools. As an adult, Padilla conspired with Israel Ramos of Raleigh, N.C., to import methamphetamine into the Altoona area. His place in the drug ring was taken by Marcelino Flores, a boxer from Gallitzin. Flores pleaded guilty, along with his wife Nicole, in February of 2009 to several related charges.
Padilla turned himself into police later in the day.
Padilla claimed to suffer from stress and blackouts. His defense attorney, Ed Blanarik said Padilla had plenty of good qualities and deserved to live. The District Attorney, Richard Consiglio, said Padilla’s actions were deserving of death.
Padilla was found guilty, and the jury took four hours to decide that death was the appropriate penalty for the crimes. His mother, Maria Brauns, and girlfriend, Amanda Bianconi, were in the courtroom and cried and wept. Ms Brauns apologized the families of his victims, who were also present. The families of the victims showed dignity in responding to the sentence.
Brauns and Bianconi, along with Padilla’s youngest brother, Christian, were whisked away by a Mexican consulate official from Philadelphia. The United States of Mexico had shown no interest in Miguel Padilla until he murdered three American citizens, at which time they felt he was worthy of their attention and appeals. Judge Hiram Carpenter and the state supreme court blocked their efforts to get involved, which included battling to have Public Defender Donald Spiece removed from the case.
Another trial was held the following month on the possession of a handgun charge was to be heard by an out-of-county jury.
Miguel Angel Padilla, Sr., is currently at the Greene State Correctional Institute in Waynesboro. Greene is a close-security facility and holds most of Pennsylvania’s capital inmates.
