HOLLIDAYSBURG — A pair of Altoona residents accused of child pornography, sex trafficking and other offenses are asking for separate trials to keep anticipated evidence against one from incriminating the other.

Defense attorneys for Stephen J. Apostolu and Kara S. Tornatore, arrested in mid-2018, asked Blair County Judge Elizabeth Doyle on Thursday to separate the cases because a joint trial will allow prosecutors to introduce statements each gave to Altoona police. Both are currently incarcerated.

“Mr. Apostolu needs to be given a fair trial,” Assistant Public Defender John Siford told Doyle. “His jury shouldn’t be tainted by statements from a co-defendant.”

If tried separately, Apostolu’s statement to police wouldn’t be admissible at Tornatore’s trial and her statement to police wouldn’t be admissible at his, according to Siford and defense attorney Richard Corcoran, who represents Tornatore.

But the pair are co-conspirators in an ongoing scheme, Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith countered as she went on record against the request for separate trials.

As outlined in charges filed by Altoona police, Tornatore is alleged to have recruited teenage girls for Apostolu, who is accused of generating and trafficking child pornography and offering child prostitution services.

Smith told the judge that if Apostolu and Tornatore try to defend themselves by blaming each other, it would make more sense for those statements to be considered by jurors in a joint trial.

But Corcoran said his client, Tornatore, has no involvement in a Nov. 21, 2017, incident in which Apostolu engaged in sexual conduct.

Doyle said she would order a transcript of Thursday’s hearing for use in rendering an answer that will keep the cases moving closer to trial.

Doyle also acknowledged Siford’s request for separate trials on four criminal cases filed against Apostolu because each has its own time frame and its own victim.

“There is not a grand conspiracy hearing involving Mr. Apostolu,” Siford said.

Smith acknowledged the separate time frames and separate victims, but she said they reflect the course of a police investigation and where Apostolu and Tornatore had lived and were living.

“The jury cannot consider these cases in a vacuum.” Smith said. “It was a pattern of behavior, to recruit and photograph these girls.”

While the child pornography, sex trafficking and other charges remain on hold pending Doyle’s ruling, robbery and related charges filed in May 2018 against Apostolu have been separated for consideration at trial. That case will be up for review on Monday when juries are selected for trials scheduled later this month.

In May 2018, Altoona police accused Apostolu of using a knife to threaten and rob a man of $400 inside a house on the 400 block of Third Avenue. At the time, the man was reported to be sharing the house with Apostolu and Tornatore when an argument developed over money and other allegations.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.