July 12, 2017
Investigators searching for four men missing in Bucks County have charged a Solebury Township man with stealing a car belonging to one of the missing men.
Cosmo DiNardo, 20, was charged with receiving stolen property and theft, Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub announced Wednesday afternoon.
RELATED: Neighbors tell of 'disturbing' gunshots near Bucks County farm before police search for missing men
Prosecutors allege DiNardo attempted to sell the car – a 1996 Nissan Maxima owned by Tom Meo – to a friend for $500. The identity of the friend is being withheld by prosecutors.
Investigators found the car at a property owned by DiNardo's family on Aquetong Road. Meo's diabetic kit was found inside the vehicle, even though he has been missing since Friday, Weintraub said.
Meo cannot survive without his diabetic kit, Weintraub said.
Investigators are searching for 22-year-old Mark Sturgis, 21-year-old Tom Meo, 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro and 19-year-old Jimi Taro Patrick.
Patrick disappeared Wednesday. The other three went missing Friday.
Police have been searching for the men on farmland near Route 202 and Aquetong Road since Sunday. They suspect foul play.
Weintraub said the search is "really intensifying," but declined to go into specifics. Investigators suspect foul play may be involved.
"We are going to find something for sure – I have no doubt about that," Weintraub said. "I can't really confirm more. But we have been utilizing some amazing resources – resources that I didn't even know existed, let alone know that we had."
Prosecutors were prepared to request that DiNardo be held on full cash bail during an afternoon arraignment, Weintraub said.
When pressed, Weintraub said DiNardo "may be enveloped in a larger set of circumstances," but did not want to comment prematurely.
"This case, as you can imagine, is still unfolding," Weintraub said. "This was a decision we made to go forward with this charge."
DiNardo previously was being held for illegal possession of a shotgun and ammunition, stemming from an incident in February. But he was released Tuesday night after posting 10 percent of $1 million cash bail.
A court affidavit detailing the shotgun charge alleges that DiNardo suffers from mental illness and had been involuntarily committed to an institution for inpatient care. But it did not say when the commitment had occurred.
The charge initially had been dismissed by a judge, but was refiled.
On Wednesday morning, Weintraub said investigators had recovered important pieces of evidence, but declined to give the details of exactly what the evidence was. But he said investigators were "encouraged by it" and would continue investigating the case.
"We have not yet recovered any human remains that I can report, but we have recovered several important pieces of evidence at this site ... and at other locations," Weintraub said. "This is just really, really rough on everybody involved because of the heat, the magnitude and the scope. And the stakes are incredibly high – life and death."
Investigators have been searching the woods and cornfields that cover the DiNardo's farm on Lower York Road. On Tuesday, cadaver dogs were brought to aid their search.
"We're going to continue in the direction we're going," Weintraub said. "We are going to keep digging and searching that property until we're satisfied that they're not there."
He encouraged anyone with any tips to contact investigators.
A Solebury Township woman told PhillyVoice that she heard four separate rounds of shotgun fire on Saturday afternoon coming from the general direction of a property owned by the family of Cosmo DiNardo.
