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City man faces drug, theft charges

Clemens

An Altoona man who police said was involved in a drug deal that ended in a deadly shooting last summer has now been charged.

Edward “Cowboy” Clemens Sr., 57, of 1389 Grandview Road, was arraigned Friday on felony counts of flight to avoid apprehension, conspiracy and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, as well misdemeanor theft and tampering with evidence stemming from the July 26 shotgun shooting death of David Alan Hoover in a church parking lot at Second Street and Fourth Avenue.

Altoona police arrested and charged John Stiver II with Hoover’s killing the next day, on July 27. In October, Clemens took the stand at Stiver’s preliminary hearing and testified that he had set up a drug deal with Hoover and asked Stiver to pick him up that day and drive him to a convenience store to get $250 from Hoover for an “8-ball” of cocaine. Clemens said he had no intention of actually getting cocaine for Hoover, whom he said had stolen $360 from him a few years earlier.

Later that day, Hoover, driven by another man, went looking for Clemens and Stiver. When Hoover and the other man caught up with the two in the alley by the church parking lot, Clemens claimed Hoover got out of the car with a revolver in one hand and an aluminum baseball bat in the other.

Clemens told the court that he ran away and didn’t know what Stiver did.

Clemens said on the stand at the October preliminary hearing for Stiver that he was waiving his Fifth Amendment rights and denied he had been promised anything by Blair County prosecutors in exchange for his testimony. He did say he sold Hoover five Klonopin pills when he met Stiver at the store to get the money for the cocaine.

Altoona police have now charged Clemens in connection with the failed drug deal leading up to the shooting, as well as for his alleged role in hiding evidence.

According to the charges, a Blair County inmate told investigators on Aug. 8 that Clemens told him where he had hid the spent shotgun shell from fatal shooting. The inmate told detectives it was beneath a rock at the fire pit near the campsite at Stiver’s’ father’s property on Homers Gap Road, where police found Stiver hiding the morning after the shooting. After speaking with the inmate, officers returned to the property and allegedly found the shell under a large rock at the fire pit.

The inmate also told officers on July 30 he overheard Stiver and Clemens talking about the killing in great detail and was able to tell detectives the order of events that police said matched what happened.

Another witness told police they saw Clemens with Stiver after the killing, and that after cleaning up and going to McDonald’s and then a convenience store, Stiver and Clemens took some camping supplies into the woods and set up camp.

Clemens was charged last week with drug-related charges over an alleged sale of Suboxone to an informant in November, and he has remained in Blair County Prison in lieu of $25,000 cash bail.

On Friday, Magisterial District Judge Daniel DeAntonio set bail on the latest charges at $100,000 cash. Clemens remains in jail with preliminary hearings for both cases scheduled for Wednesday at Central Court.

Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7458.

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