By Joshua Byers
The Tribune-Democrat
EBENSBURG, Pa. — Cambria County Prison made history Tuesday when the first narcotics detection K-9 and her handler were sworn in by Cambria County President Judge Linda Rovder Fleming at the courthouse.
Storm, a black Dutch Shepherd, has been trained to sniff out illegal substances at the lockup under direction of Chief Deputy Warden Carmelo Furnari.
“She’s a beautiful dog,” he said. “She’s amazing at what she does.”
County officials, attorneys, family members and judges filled Courtroom 3 Tuesday for the ceremony.
They heard from prison Warden Kurt Wolford, District Attorney Jessica Aurandt and K9 Titan’s Watch Foundation President Brett A. Reaman about the importance of Storm and her responsibilities.
The idea of a narcotics detection dog at the prison stemmed from the increasingly dangerous drugs that are sometimes smuggled into the facility, prison officials said.
Furnari said that even a minor exposure to these substances can be deadly for a corrections officer.
Cambria County Prison Chief Deputy Warden and K-9 handler Carmelo Furnari sits with the correctional institution’s new narcotics detection K-9 Storm, a Dutch Shepherd, during a swearing-in ceremony at the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensburg on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
To address this need, the Cambria County Prison Board began working in April to acquire a dog for the job.
That group and Wolford collaborated with K9 Titan’s Watch Foundation to acquire the canine.
Titan’s Watch, named for the fallen Johnstown Police Department K-9 Titan, helped fund Storm, and her training was paid for by supporter Sue Konvolinka.
Reaman said they didn’t just fund the purchase of the dog, they invested in community safety.
He commended the prison for taking the steps to provide a detection dog to the facility and everyone involved in making it happen.
Wolford said as far as he could tell, there was just one instance in the prison’s more than 150 years of history when a canine was used.
That was for protection in 1970s by a former warden when he lived at the Old Stone Jail in Ebensburg. The new prison in Cambria Township was built and opened in the 1990s.
“Today truly is a first,” Wolford said. “Storm will walk our halls. She will assist our officers.
“She will conduct searches and, hopefully, many times throughout her career, she will find something that prevents a serious problem before it happens.”
Furnari said it was an honor to take on this responsibility and he was humbled to be the first handler of a narcotics detection K-9 at the prison.
The training was difficult, and pushed him and his dog to their limits, he said, but it also created an unbreakable bond between them.
“(She’s) a perfect deterrent,” Furnari said. “Exactly what we need in this world.”
—
© 2026 The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown, Pa.). Visit www.tribune-democrat.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
