DUNMORE — The son of a former borough firefighter accused of accepting $64,156 in improper compensation after retiring on a disability pension in 1995 is seeking a disability pension of his own.

A revamped Dunmore Pension Board on Tuesday voted to defer a decision on firefighter Vince Sardo’s request pending an independent medical examination. Sardo, who seeks the pension for a work-related injury, is the son of John Sardo, one of two retired firefighters Dunmore and the pension board are suing in an effort to recoup nearly $300,000 in additional compensation the men were paid but not entitled to receive dating back to 2001, according to separate lawsuits filed by pension board solicitor Larry Durkin.

The payments to the elder Sardo and Joseph A. Riccardo were to compensate the men for unused sick, vacation and holiday days and other benefits they were entitled to receive when they retired on disability pensions in 1995 and 1996, respectively.

Borough and pension officials contend the extra compensation was supposed to stop in 2001, but was not halted until January 2018 due to an apparent oversight.

Riccardo improperly collected $1,153.57 a month beginning June 12, 2001, for a total of $230,713.70, while John Sardo wrongly received $336.75 a month starting Dec. 7, 2001, for a total of $64,156 , the suits allege.

No one knows why the error occurred or why it wasn’t discovered sooner, Durkin said in early March.

Efforts to reach Vince Sardo were unsuccessful Tuesday.

He told The Times-Tribune earlier this month, however, that his now 79-year-old father is financially distressed and in poor physical health, having suffered three strokes in recent years. The younger Sardo agreed that Dunmore was right to stop the additional payments but questioned the borough’s lawsuit given the circumstances.

John Sardo did not know he was receiving money he was not entitled to and did not act maliciously in accepting it, Vince Sardo said at the time.

The borough is still in the process of serving the elder Sardo with the lawsuit, Durkin said Tuesday. Lackawanna County Judge Robert Mazzoni presided over a hearing in the Riccardo case March 7, but has yet to issue a ruling.

The nearly $300,000 in overpayments are the latest in decades of problems that have plagued the boroug's pension fund, but officials comprising the current pension board vowed Tuesday to make sure everything is done properly moving forward.

Prior to reorganizing Nov. 20, the pension board had not met regularly for several years, Durkin said. He said he doesn’t know how pensions were approved during that time.

The pension board’s focus now is on “doing everything the right way” as it “should have been done years ago before any of us were here,” board member and borough council President Michael Dempsey said.

Other board members are Mayor Timothy Burke, borough manager Vito Ruggiero, Olena Shemchuk, John Malecki and William Bonavoglia. There is one vacancy. Burke did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.

The board will meet quarterly going forward, officials said.

Contact the writer:

jhorvath@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9141;

@jhorvathTT on Twittertrying to recoup nearly $300,000 in additional compensation improperly paid to two retired borough firefighters

SCRANTON — A judge heard preliminary objections Tuesday to a lawsuit claiming the Scranton Sewer Authority’s disbursement of $87 million in proceeds from the 2016 sewer sale to Scranton and Dunmore violated state law.

The authority, city, borough and two law firms involved in the transaction — Abrahamsen, Conaboy & Abrahamsen, special counsel to the city, and Cummings Law, the borough solicitor — are named as defendants in the lawsuit filed in October 2017 by Scranton resident Anthony Moses.

During a hearing in Lackawanna County Court before visiting Senior Judge John Braxton of Philadelphia, attorneys for the defendants argued for dismissal of the suit on several grounds.

‘Purpose and mission’

Those arguments include that Moses does not have legal standing or valid grounds to bring the suit, and the disbursement of proceeds from the December 2016 sewer sale, done without the authority first dissolving, did not violate the law and adhered to the authority’s “purpose and mission.”

Moses’ attorney, Patrick Howard of the Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky law firm in Philadelphia, disputed the defense’s arguments. The crux of the suit is the authority simply failed to follow the law in dissolving, he said. The authority should have first satisfied all debts and obligations and then terminated and disbursed remaining proceeds, he said. Instead, the authority disbursed proceeds to the municipalities first and still has not terminated.

Separate suit

The authority also has not first resolved all obligations, chiefly claims arising in a separate class-action lawsuit over 600 missing easements the authority needs to secure from affected homeowners. Moses is a plaintiff in that class-action suit, filed in November 2016, which also remains pending in Lackawanna County Court. Howard also represents those plaintiffs.

Process challenged

Howard said Moses’ individual lawsuit does not challenge the sewer sale itself or the use of proceeds to benefit the municipalities, but rather challenges the process followed and claims the authority did not first satisfy all obligations before disbursing proceeds.

“You have to follow the law. The law is crystal clear,” Howard told the judge. “They’re asking you to bless this transaction and ignore” the law.

But authority attorney Michael O’Brien of the Oliver, Price & Rhodes law firm of Clarks Summit claimed the distribution of proceeds from the sale “prior to final termination/dissolution” is consistent with both applicable law and a relevant state Supreme Court case.

The lawsuit is significant as an unresolved, potentially costly outgrowth of the sewer sale that closed at the end of December 2016.

Moses claims that, under law, the SSA was allowed to expend money only for purposes directly related to its mission. The suit seeks to have proceeds of $70 million to Scranton and $17 million to Dunmore, and $456,000 in payments of legal bills to the law firms, all returned to the SSA and placed in escrow until the authority settles all outstanding claims.

But the sewer sale to Pennsylvania American Water was true to the authority’s purpose of providing high quality sewer service at affordable rates, said city Solicitor Jessica Eskra, representing Scranton.

“Now, its mission and purpose is to follow through with the process of winding down,” Eskra said of the sewer authority remaining in operation.

Other defense attorneys included Samatha Ryan of The MacMain Law Group of West Chester representing Dunmore; and Jessica Keough of the Kane, Pugh, Knoell, Troy & Kramer law firm of Norristown representing the Abrahamsen and Cummings law firms.

The defense jointly countered the authority put $12 million in sewer sale proceeds in escrow to pay for missing easements. The class-action case remains pending in mediation and the $12 million escrow may be enough. Thus, Moses is not “aggrieved” and his individual suit is premature, they argued.

Braxton did not render and immediate decision.

Contact the writer:

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185;

@jlockwoodTT on Twitter

SCRANTON — Broadway Theatre League of Northeastern Pennsylvania will hold two free workshops with a lunch and talk-back March 30, in conjunction with its presentation of “The King and I.”

“The Small House of Uncle Thomas” dance master class will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Center for Health and Wellness at Marywood University, 2300 Adams Ave. It is geared toward dance teachers as well as intermediate and advanced high school and college dancers, who will learn the show’s Asian-inspired dance from cast members.

Actress Annie Sherman then will discuss theater life during “The King and I and Me” from noon to 1 p.m. at Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple, 420 N. Washington Ave. It is geared toward performing arts teachers and students from elementary school through college.

Both groups will have lunch at the cultural center from 1 to 1:45 p.m. A talk-back with cast members follows from 5:10 to 5:30 p.m.

Participants can buy tickets to that day’s 2 p.m. “King and I” at a discounted rate of $24.

For reservations, call 570-342-7784 or visit the league’s 345 N. Washington Ave. office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

— CAITLIN HEANEY WEST

MARRIAGE LICENSES

• Michelle Lynn Church and Andrew John Church, both of Clarks Summit.

• Jorge Ivan Ramos Mercado and Liliana Y. Hernandez Alvarez, both of Taylor.

• Melinda A. Burnett and Michael Andrew Drazba, both of Scranton.

• Tysheach Tywann McCutchen and Laura Lorraine Muhammad, both of Scranton.

PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

• Patrick J. McLaine, Robert P. Naegele, David P. Lopatka and Patrick McLaine, trading as Orchard Creek, and/or Orchard Creek Partners, Clarks Summit, to Lisa A. Falzetti, Gambrills, Md.; a property in Olyphant for $30,000.

• Ruth McDermott, Scranton, by Carol McMullen, senior vice president and trust officer for Penn Security Bank and Trust Co., now successor by merger, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Co., her attorney-in-fact, to Atlantic Capital LLC; a property at 840 River St., Scranton, for $27,500.

• Alex J. and Nicole B. Howe, Moscow, to Justin M. Kashuba, Moscow; a property at 103 Stephens St., Moscow, for $175,100.

• Mary Ann and Thomas A. Wissel, Toms River, N.J., to Matthew Zaleski Jr., Spring Brook Twp.; two parcels in Spring Brook Twp. for $72,000.

• Ernest Dagata, Donald L. Sherwood, John F. Walsh and Peggy Clark to Why Be LLC; a property in Newton Twp. for $400,000.

• Christine Cohen to Logan and Mariah Davis; a property at 406 Tulip Circle, Clarks Summit, for $237,000.

• Steven Scarpetta, Scranton, to Gary Stubbs and Zurith Lopez, Scranton; a property at 1508 Pine St., Scranton, for $79,500.

• Lauren Ann Wilk, now by marriage Lauren Ann DeNaples, Dunmore, to Michael O. Barbetti and Sherrise Zangardi; two parcels at 710 Center St., Dun­more, for $235,000.

• Robert H. and Mary Shaffer, Old Forge, to Christopher and Alexandra Mahalik, Olyphant; two parcels in Old Forge for $84,000.

• Elaine Mahoney, executrix of the estate of Helen S. Liparulo, also known as Helen Solomon Liparulo, Eynon, to Andrea Noll, Blakely; a property at 104 Betty St., Eynon, for $91,700.

• Valerie R. Widaman, now by marriage Valerie R. Inman, to Morgan R. and Austin E. Clark; a property at 57 Log Road, Jefferson Twp., for $164,000.

• Peter F. Jr. and Marlene R. Delfino, Pennsylvania, to Ann Margaret Peters, Waldorf, Md.; a property in Taylor for $29,500.

DIVORCES SOUGHT

• Marylois M. Machler, South Abington Twp., v. Arthur H. Machler, South Abington Twp.; married June 8, 1994, in Dunmore; Donald W. Jensen, attorney.

• Emmett W. Sherman Jr., Liverpool, N.Y., v. Cara Sherman, Jessup; married Sept. 9, 2000, in Archbald; Brian J. Cali, attorney.

STATE TAX LIENS

• Travis E. Langlois, 1121 Ash St., Scranton; $2,958.88.

• George R. Yurkanin, 610 S. Washington Ave., Scranton; $7,783.20.

• Mark A. Lavelle, 3110 Division St., Scranton; $4,096.

• Eleanor Figuccio, 1028 Froude Ave., Scranton; $9,890.

• Thomas A. Promovitz, 1035 Main St., first floor, Dickson City; $8,398.

LAWSUIT

• Sara A. Hooper, 41 Hurbane St., Pringle, v. Heather A. Schield, 1116 Loomis Ave., Scranton, seeking a sum exceeding the arbitration limits, together with costs and interest, for injuries suffered Feb. 19, 2018, in an automobile accident at Kane Street and Pittston Avenue, Scranton; Christopher P. Caputo, attorney.

ESTATE FILED

• Robert Acerra Jr., 608 Main St., Peckville, letters of administration to Samantha Acerra, 405 S. Main St., Apt. 2 rear, Pittston.

ONLINE: thetimes-tribune.com/courts

President Judge Michael Bar­rasse sentenced the following defendants recently in Lacka­wanna County Court:

• Matthew Trygar, 27, 530 N. Main Ave., Scranton, to 10 to 24 months in state prison and $3,110 in restitution for receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia.

• Dantes Wallace, 41, 1719 Green Forest Drive, North Augusta, South Carolina, to one to three years in state prison for conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver.

• Jamie Mozeleski, 36, 937 Palm St., Scranton, to 102 to 204 months in state prison and $19,967 in restitution for aggravated assault, criminal mischief and recklessly endangering another person.

• Aziz Barry, 26, 5011 Wood­side Drive, Tobyhanna, to seven days’ time served in county prison for harassment.

• Hellen James, 22, 4794 Birney Ave., Apt. 3 rear, Moosic, to six months of probation and a $300 fine for DUI — tier one, first offense.

• Steven Thrash, 29 Slope St., Nanticoke, to six months of court supervision, including two months of house arrest, and a $300 fine for DUI — tier one, first offense.

• Ryan Gibbs, 34, RR 1, Box 275, Lake Ariel, to two years of court supervision, including three months of house arrest, for recklessly endangering another person.

Judge Vito Geruolo sentenced:

• Paul Baldwin III, 25, 253 Welles St., Mehoopany, to two to 18 months in county prison and $291 in restitution for theft by unlawful taking.

Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle sentenced:

• Jeffrey Bojnoski, 27, 228 E. Drinker St., Apt. 13, Dunmore, to 18 to 34 months in state prison for simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

• Cody Amos, 20, 702 Luzerne Ave., West Pittston, to two to 10 years in state prison, followed by three years of probation, and $700 in restitution for robbery and theft by unlawful taking.

March 20, 1944

Man bludgeoned

to death in Scranton

Scranton police were investigating the suspicious death of 72-year-old John McDonald. His body was found in his room at a rooming house at 407 Madison Ave.

According to police, they believed that McDonald left the house sometime in the evening of March 17 and returned in the early morning hours of March 18 with an unidentified man. Another lodger told police that he heard McDonald come home after 2 a.m. and that another man was with him. Police

were searching for this man for information about what happened or that he might be the killer of McDonald.

Upon examination, Lackawanna County Coroner Dr. Paul Kubasko found McDonald had three skull fractures. A broken hammer was found near his body in his room. It was believed that the hammer was used in McDonald’s death. Assistant District Attorney Carlon O’Malley of Lackawanna County and Capt. George Donaldson believed that McDonald was murdered.

This would have been the first murder in the city of Scranton since November 1940. On Nov. 7, 1940, William and Lois Rebhorn were killed when a bomb placed in their family’s car exploded. The two were the children of Dr. E.H. Rebhorn, former Scranton public health director. The case had yet to be solved.

Snow for the

first day of spring

The arrival of spring was greeted with a parting gift from winter — several inches of snow. The winter storm entered our region just after sundown March 19 with heavy winds. Parts of the Abingtons reported snow drifts from the storm. The snow made walking treacherous on sidewalks because of a thin layer of ice that formed underneath winter’s blanket.

The state deployed 15 cinder trucks and six plows to keep the area highways open for travel.

BRIAN FULTON, library manager, oversees The Times-Tribune’s expansive digital and paper archives and is an authority on local history. Contact Brian at bfulton@timesshamrock.com or 570-348-9140.

In the building game, incidental expenses are called “soft costs.”

Soft costs include architectural and engineering fees, legal fees, pre- and post-construction expenses, permits, taxes, insurance and other “add-ons” that can really add up.

Soft costs are paid with hard money.

When I see a “soft costs” line item in a public document, my scalp tingles. When I see “Highland Associates” and “soft costs” in the same public document, it’s like somebody dumped a bucket of fire ants on my head.

The city paid the Clarks Summit-based architecture, engineering and interior design firm $39,500 for an assessment of City Hall, which was built in 1888 and immediately put on a deferred maintenance plan.

In a 320-page report, Highland lays out the cost of renovating the building at $10.7 million. On Monday, city council voted to seek a $5.3 million state grant to fund half of the renovation cost.

They can’t just pull cash from the ceiling.

Highland Associates cast the lone proposal on the City Hall assessment, which wouldn’t be a red flag if not for the firm’s recent past.

Fewer than 15 years ago, Highland Associates principals bribed Lackawanna County Commissioners Bob Cordaro and A.J. Munchak to keep lucrative county contracts. Then-owners Don Kalina, Kevin Smith and Domenic Provini were granted immunity to testify against Cordaro and Munchak, who were sentenced in January 2012 to a combined 18 years in federal prison.

Kalina, Smith and Provini cashed out of Highland and went on with their soft lives. A.J. did seven years in prison and is a free man today. Bob is still in the federal jug, scheduled for release in 2021.

Highland has different owners today, but the firm’s recent history should disqualify it from landing any public contracts. They chose to keep the name. Let them carry the shame.

I called Highland on Tuesday to ask for details about the $1.45 million in soft costs it projected for the City Hall project. I was told to direct all questions to the city.

City council President Pat Rogan raised the vague line item at Monday’s meeting, and told me Tuesday that it will be discussed with Highland representatives at next Monday’s caucus. Also on the agenda: Whether it makes more sense to sell the building and move city offices to a newer, less decrepit location.

Mayor Bill Courtright said he’s not sure a sale would even be legal and would rather stay put, if possible.

“Personally, I would like to stay in this building, but I don’t know if it’s feasible,” he said. “I’m open to all options.”

On the soft costs, Courtright directed me to Business Manager Dave Bulzoni. While I had him on the phone, I asked the mayor whether he was open to discussing the FBI investigation into his campaign finances.

“You’ll have to talk to my lawyer about that,” he said.

Bulzoni said the City Hall assessment job was advertised in The Times-Tribune, and that city officials were “delighted” Highland submitted a bid. He said the firm has “done really good work” for the city on other projects, and if the administration decides to go forward with renovations, Highland will have to bid for the work, just like any other firm.

Fair enough, as long as the mayor and council insist on casting a wider net for proposals. If they extend the opportunity beyond the city limits, they just might find a firm that never paid bribes in exchange for public money.

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, feels like City Hall was sold out decades ago. Contact the writer: kellysworld@timessha­­mrock.com, @cjkink on Twitter. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.co­­m/kelly.

Teachers in some Scranton schools clean mouse droppings from desks each morning.

With reports of infestations at several schools across the city, Scranton School District officials say they take the issue seriously. The teachers union is asking for a faster response and questions whether glue traps being used by an extermination company are working.

“We have a problem. Let’s solve it the fastest way we know how,” said Rosemary Boland, president of the Scranton Federation of Teachers. “We just want it addressed.”

The union sent photos to the administration and reached out to the school board with concerns. Infested schools include West Scranton Intermediate, Scranton High School and Isaac Tripp Elementary, said Boland.

The district asked staff members to clean out cabinets and closets and keep food in sealed glass containers. With the district’s free breakfast in the classroom program, in which students eat at their desks each morning, staff members also make sure any crumbs and residue are cleaned. Students sometimes kept leftovers in their desks, Superintendent Alexis Kirijan, Ed.D., said.

The district is following recommendations from Ehrlich Pest Control, she said. State guidelines prevent the district from using poison around students, so instead, crews set glue traps to catch the mice. If the situation worsens, the district could use a long weekend to try a more aggressive treatment, Kirijan said.

Abandoned homes near schools could be attracting the rodents, and crews also worked to seal openings into the school buildings, she said.

Last year, the district paid Ehrlich $19,000 for pest control services. The district did not put those services out to bid but plans to soon, she said.

“Our maintenance staff is very conscientious,” Kirijan said. “Our buildings are older buildings. We try to do whatever we can to mitigate the problem. It takes everybody to help.”

School Director Tom Borthwick

, chairman of the board’s buildings and grounds committee, said he hopes the board soon gets a clear picture of the problem. If the steps now are not enough to get rid of the mice, the district must consider additional steps, he said.

“We need to make sure the safety of our students and staff is our priority,” Borthwick said.

Contact the writer:

shofius@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9133;

@hofiushallTT on Twitter

Old Forge School District’s solicitor resigned Monday because of ongoing school board dysfunction, including instances of pornography, racism, employee harassment and intimidation.

Attorney Joseph E. Mariotti, a partner with Moosic-based Caputo & Mariotti law firm, said in a letter that he cannot continue to represent the school board because it “can only have a negative impact on my otherwise reputable legal career” and he “cannot allow an ongoing association to negatively affect my business and my family.” He earned $1,200 a month as the board’s solicitor, said Superintendent John Rushefski.

“This is the worst I have ever seen the state of affairs, lack of professionalism and decorum in 23 years at the district,” he wrote.

School board President Jenna Jones Shotwell said the board is thankful for Mariotti’s years of service with the district.

“He wanted to step away from a pretty volatile situation, which is understood,” she said. “Hopefully, we can find a solicitor who meets our needs better.”

Shotwell said the board had “some issues with attorney Mariotti’s unwillingness to attend some meetings.”

Attempts to reach Mariotti were unsuccessful.

Director Frank Scavo said he knew Mariotti was frustrated.

“We’ve served on boards together for the last 12 years. ... If his time is best spent elsewhere then I wish him luck,” he said.

Among Mariotti’s reasons for resigning include Scavo’s

years of anti-Islamic Facebook posts where he often portrayed Muslims as terrorists, pedophiles or rapists. Scavo apologized for the posts and removed his Facebook page but directors voted him out as board president and called for his resignation from the board March 7.

The pornography reference is about a Times-Tribune article in July that revealed school board Director Christopher Thomas was fired as a district employee in 2017 for using a district-issued iPad to download pornography and solicit prostitutes. He was paid a $130,000

secret settlement in 2017. The newspaper used the state’s Right to Know Law to force the disclosure of the settlement in February 2018. Scavo said in February that Thomas now seeks a more than $3 million payout, through the Old Forge Education Association, for a breach of his 2017 settlement.

Scavo said removing Mariotti is part of “Thomas’ continuing agenda of vendetta” because the attorney was involved with Thomas’ issues with the district and his settlement.

“My eyes will be open for the next solicitor, someone that will be able to represent the entire board fairly,” said Scavo.

Thomas denied any vendetta, pointing out that he served on the Old Forge School Board when Mariotti was first hired in the mid 1990s.

Although he and the attorney “didn’t always see eye to eye” over the years, Thomas said he “respected the position he had.”

The divisive nine-member board often bickers during board meetings over meeting minutes, procedures and, most recently, appointing a new director after Director Julie Grimes

resigned in December.

Grimes also resigned over what she called a divided board that no longer focuses on education but rather gets lost in personal vendettas.

During a Dec. 5 school board meeting, directors revealed at least one school board member is accused of harassing a district employee.

The school code requires school boards to have a solicitor, said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Since the solicitor is a contracted position, the board must hold discussions over who to hire next during a public meeting, she said.

John Audi, the district’s labor and special education attorney, will represent Old Forge during the board’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Contact the writer:

kbolus@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9100 x5114;

@kbolusTT on Twitter

SCRANTON — A Taylor woman accused of poisoning several cats will enter the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program.

Jennifer Oustrich, 49, 501 S. Main St., faced charges of animal cruelty and other counts related to her arrest in August. She is accused of putting rat poison in a yard in the 400 block of West Taylor Street in Taylor, police said. Oustrich told police she had been having a “major problem” with stray cats getting into her tenant’s garbage, police said. Investigators determined at least two cats died after ingesting rat poison, police said.

Judge Thomas Munley admitted Oustrich into the program last week. The ARD program is for first-time offenders and those in the program can have their records expunged upon completion. Oustrich must also perform community service, according to court documents.

— CLAYTON OVER

SCRANTON — Bridget Malloy Kosierowski will take the oath of office as the new 114th state House District representative April 8.

Kosierowski, a registered nurse from Waverly Twp., gave the Northeast Surgery Center two weeks notice after her election March 12. She will end a 15-year tenure there on March 29, she said. She won’t be sworn in until April 8 because that’s the next date the House reconvenes after she leaves her nursing job.

Kosierowski, 46, handily defeated Republican Old Forge School Director Frank Scavo to win the seat, vacant because state Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich died in October.

— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

STERLING TWP. — Crews fought a fire at a barn in the township Tuesday afternoon.

Responders were dispatched at 1:32 p.m. for a fire at 138 Spring Hill Road. Officials called a fire marshal to the scene to investigate the cause. No injuries were reported, though a dog is missing, and the barn owner has been notified, according to officials.

Officials released no other information Tuesday night.

— DANIEL ROSLER

DUNMORE — Holy Cross High School will advance to the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s statewide mock trial championship, happening later this month.

One of the 14 high schools going to the 36th annual championship, Holy Cross will compete March 29 and 30 at the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg.

This year, 287 teams from 242 high schools competed in district and regional competitions to fight for one of the 14 spots. Holy Cross moves on as a winner of the Region 10 area competition, which includes schools in Bradford, Lackawanna, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties.

The Holy Cross team includes Elizabeth Arbie, Maggie Arcuri, Christian Ceccoli, Dawson Errigo, Serge Grega, Nicholas Klein, Caroline Kranick, Joe Lennon, Jordan McAndrew, Sarah Mies, Lauren Palmiter, Ericka Pica, Gianna Sacchetti, Mia Sandy and Olivia Zehel. The teacher coach is Janine Wetter and the attorney advisors are Francesca Kester and Jim Wetter.

The winning team of the state championship will move on to represent Pennsylvania in the national mock trial finals to be held May 16-18 in Athens, Georgia

— DANIEL ROSLER

It was a crime that rocked the tight-knit community of Hazleton, shattering innocence.

Over a half-century later, it remains unsolved.

But, new technology may bring investigators one step closer to solving the mystery and to finally finding out who raped and killed Marise A. Chiverella.

The 9-year-old was last seen walking to school in Hazleton the morning of March 18, 1964.

She was found murdered hours later in Hazle Twp. — callously left alone in a coal stripping hole locals used to dump trash.

Police don’t have the suspect’s name but they’ve had his DNA for years, and that evidence recently was used by an independent lab to determine what he may have looked like.

Pictures of the person who police believe killed the child will be released today by state police at Hazleton, days after the anniversary of her murder.

Troopers hope the information leads to renewed public interest in the case and brings officers closer to her attacker’s identity.

“It’s new technology,” said Trooper Anthony Petroski III, public information officer at Troop N headquarters in West Hazleton. “You’re talking about a case that’s 55 years old. It happened when there really wasn’t this technology available and we’re using this to our advantage now.”

Petroski said the case update shows troopers are unwilling to give up on unsolved cases. Though the Chiverella case isn’t yet closed, it’s one step closer.

It was likely the first child sex crime involving murder in the area, according to previously published reports.

Police relentlessly investigated then and now.

Scores of troopers attached to the Hazleton barracks have reviewed the case each year since Chiverella’s death, unwilling to give up on serving justice.

Investigators in recent times have been able to do what their predecessors could not.

Though still nameless in 2007, 10 suspect specimens, clothing containing the killer’s bodily fluids and specimens from Chiverella were provided to the Pennsylvania State Police laboratory for a DNA profile.

Each month since then the killer’s DNA profile was checked against new DNA entries in databases, but still, no match, troopers said.

Then in 2018, troopers learned of new technology related to DNA profiling from Parabon NanoLabs.

Parabon, with funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, developed the Snapshot Forensic DNA Phenotyping System, to predict genetic ancestry and people’s appearances, according to its website.

Financial assistance to pay for the expensive forensic DNA study in the Chiverella case came from her family and from investigator associations, troopers said. In November, Parabon shared its findings with troopers.

Investigators reviewed the case again, deciding an age progression was necessary. The Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office assisted with the cost of adding snapshot phenotypes for a 40- and 60-year-old to the case.

March 18, 1964

The morning of the homicide, Chiverella was walking to the former St. Joseph’s School (now Holy Family Academy) on North Laurel Street from her home a few blocks west at 533 Alter St. She typically walked with her siblings but that morning chose to leave earlier and walk alone.

She was carrying canned goods to donate to a feast day food drive at the school.

The last time she was seen alive was as she walked east on the north sidewalk near 212 W. Fourth St. at 8:10 a.m. She was one block west of Church Street (Route 309), an area that was quite likely busy with traffic.

At 1 p.m. her body was found in the stripping hole, just north of Airport Road in the Milnesville section of Hazle Twp., near Hazleton Regional Airport.

She was left there alone, clothed but shoeless.

The child’s multi-colored scarf was stuffed into her mouth and her hands and feet had been tied with her own shoelaces.

An autopsy later determined that she had been raped and strangled to death.

Police interviewed a number of suspects and compiled theories.

One suspect whose common law wife lived on Fourth Street in a home that Chiverella passed by as she walked to school was scheduled to take a lie detector test.

He never did take the test, though. Instead, he committed suicide by attaching a hose to his car’s exhaust and piping the fumes into the interior.

Crimes outside of the area but similar to Chiverella’s that happened around that time frame were also looked into.

Chiverella was the daughter of Carmen and Mary Chiverella.

The pain of losing a child so brutally still weighed on her mother 45 years later.

In a 2009 interview, she thought about Marise every day.

“It feels like a part of yourself is gone,” she said. “I think of her every day. She is on my mind all the time.”

Mary passed away in 2014.

Contact the writer:

achristman@standardspeaker.com

570-501-3584

WNEP is one of 11 stations acquired by TEGNA, according to a news release issued Wednesday morning by TEGNA.

TEGNA entered into an agreement with Nextar Media Group to purchase 11 stations in eight markets for $740 million.

Stations inlcuded are WTIC/WCCT (Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut), WPMT (Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York), WATN/WLMT (Memphis), WNEP, WOI/KCWI (Des Moises-Ames, Iowa), WZDX (Huntsivlle-Decatur-Florence, Alabama), WQAD (Davenport, Iowa and Island-Moline, Illinois), KFSM (Ft. Smith-Fayetteveille-Springdale-Rogers, Arkansas).

WILKES-BARRE — The Wilkes-Barre Area School District teacher accused of screaming and throwing rocks at the home of her estranged lover from an extra-marital affair entered an agreement Wednesday to pay restitution in exchange for one set of charges being dropped against her.

Jamie Lynn Andrews, 37, of 70 Main St., Laflin, is charged in three cases stemming from a tumultuous break-up with her estranged lover, Jeffrey Walkowiak. The allegations include claims that Andrews hit Walkowiak and slashed a tire on his wife’s vehicle.

But the most serious case was filed last month, when police alleged Andrews, a Dodson Elementary School special education teacher, crashed into a car parked in the driveway at Walkowiak’s home at 6 Michelle St. in Plains Twp. early the morning of Feb. 25.

Police allege Andrews smashed a pane of glass on the front door, threw rocks at the home and screamed and punched vehicles before fleeing the scene.

In court Wednesday, Plains Twp. police officer Michael Smith proposed Andrews pay $1,179 in restitution in exchange for dropping the charges of criminal mischief, fleeing the scene of an accident and reckless driving in that case. Andrews initially appeared to agree, but then questioned the amount.

“How are you getting that number?” Andrews asked.

Magisterial District Judge Donald L. Whittaker explained it was $682 for a new front door and $497 for Home Depot to install it.

Andrews questioned why Jeffrey Walkowiak could not do the installation, but his wife Jessica Walkowiak — who court records show is in the process of getting divorced from her husband — insisted a contractor do the job.

Whittaker reminded Andrews that Jessica Walkowiak is the victim and said she gets to decide who does the work. Faced with the prospect of the case moving forward to trial, Andrews agreed to pay the proposed amount.

“We’ll call it a day,” she said.

Whittaker agreed to hold the case open for two weeks to give the payment time to process, warning Andrews she could face bad check charges if her check bounces.

Andrews declined to comment as she left court.

While the complaint police filed against Andrews does not provide an alleged motive for the crime, court documents show that the incident took place while Jeffrey Walkowiak was trying to end a romantic relationship with her.

Last October, he took out a restraining order alleging Andrews had been contacting him about him having her involuntarily committed for a mental health evaluation because “she told me if three was no us there would be no her,” according to the protection-from-abuse order application.

In the filing, Jeffrey Walkowiak alleged Andrews, who was also going through a divorce, had been pinching and hitting him.

Court documents allege that about a month before the attack on the house, Andrews slashed the back tire on Jessica Walkowiak’s vehicle. Andrews is facing a summary count of criminal mischief in that case.

In another protection-from-abuse application Jeffrey Walkowiak filed last month, he wrote that after the tire slashing he took Andrews out to dinner to break it off for good. Andrews then began kicking him under the table at the restaurant, according to the application.

On the way home, Andrews threw a cologne bottle at Jeffrey Walkowiak and grabbed the steering wheel in an attempt to crash the vehicle, the application alleges. Andrews also hit Jeffrey Walkowiak in the eye and began scratching his face, according to the complaint.

Court records show Andrews is also facing a summary count of harassment over that incident, which took place in Wilkes-Barre on Jan. 26.

Three days after Jeffrey Walkowiak filed his second restraining order, Andrews filed one of her own against him, alleging Jeffrey Walkowiak had choked her and spat on her in addition to calling her names such as, “whore,” “bad wife” and “horse teeth.”

Records show both parties later dropped the protection-from-abuse orders.

In addition to the three cases related to her contacts with the Walkowiaks, Andrews is also awaiting trial on driving under the influence charges alleging she crashed into a rock wall, mail box and utility pole near her home the night of Sept. 8.

Police allege Andrews, who previously served as a Laflin Borough councilwoman, was under the influence of phentermine and oxycodone at the time.

District solicitor Raymond Wendolowski did not immediately return a message seeking comment on her employment status with the district.
 

A Democratic campaign commercial producer with ties to former Vice President Joseph Biden visited Scranton’s Green Ridge neighborhood to get a feel for where Biden spent his early childhood years.

Mark Putnam’s visit Saturday adds another fraction of evidence to the almost foregone conclusion that Biden will join the 2020 presidential race.

Putnam and a female colleague visited the former Biden homestead on N. Washington Ave., met with its present occupant, Anne Kearns, visited a neighbor across the street and toured Biden’s other childhood hangouts, said Tom Bell, 76, of Waverly Twp., one of Biden’s closest remaining Scranton friends.

Biden, also 76, was born in Scranton. His family moved to Delaware when he was 10 years old, but he has frequently returned, including during former President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. Kearns confirmed Putnam and his colleague visited, but declined to comment further. Politico, an online publication, first reported news of the visit Wednesday morning.

On Labor Day 2008, Biden toured his former home and hosted an economic roundtable in the backyard.

Efforts to reach Putnam were unsuccessful.

Only hours after Putnam’s visit, Biden practically confirmed he will enter the race while addressing criticism from leftist Democrats during a Dover, Delaware, fundraiser for the state’s Democratic Party.

“I have the most progressive record of anybody running...” Biden said, according to various media reports, before altering that to “anybody who would run.”

Bell said Biden “really wants to be president.”

“Yeah, I think he should run,” Bell said Wednesday. “I know he’s going to run. He didn’t tell me that, but I know Biden ... He really wants to be president.”

Putnam, an Alaska native who worked on Biden’s abbreviated 1988 presidential campaign, co-owns Washington, D.C.,-based Putnam Partners. The firm develops advertising campaigns for corporations, political candidates and issue advocacy groups. Past clients include five American presidential campaigns, including Obama’s, and campaigns for governor, the U.S. House and Senate and other elected offices in 47 states, according to the firm’s website. In 2016, Putnam produced a 92-second commercial titled “Draft Biden,” paid for by a political action committee with the same name that raised more than $1 million to woo Biden into the presidential race. Biden opted against running in 2016.

Bell said Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, suggested Putnam visit Scranton and meet up with Bell. The visit would give Putnam a better understanding of Biden’s background. Bell said they met in the late morning and spent about two hours together. They drove past Hank’s Hoagies, where Biden stopped on a previous visit, Marywood University and Green Ridge Corners, once the location of the Roosevelt Theatre. In his 2007 book, “Promises to Keep,” Biden wrote about watching Tarzan and western movies at “the Roosie.”

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.

WAYNE COUNTY — An inmate at the federal prison at Canaan was sentenced to 30 more months in prison for assaulting and seriously injuring another inmate.

Clayton J. Shinn, 28, and fellow inmate Jeffrey Mattox, punched and kicked the inmate during a confrontation Oct. 4, 2016, according to U.S. Attorney David J. Freed’s office.

Shinn and Mattox pleaded guilty. Mattox is still awaiting sentencing.

— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

SCRANTON — Lackawanna County suspended one of its information technology employees amid an investigation by the county district attorney’s office.

County spokesman Joseph D’Arienzo confirmed today that Theodore Karampilas, a senior programmer/analyst for the county, is suspended without pay and barred from accessing county buildings and computers. Karampilas has worked for the county since 2002 and earns an annual salary of $50,665. The county is cooperating with the DA’s office, D’Arienzo said.

The nature of the investigation is unknown. District Attorney Mark Powell said this afternoon he could not comment as the investigation is ongoing.

— JEFF HORVATH