Accused thief David Cunard managed to make more money ripping off a homeowner than robbing a bank, authorities say.

The Scranton handyman who told Dunmore police he robbed a bank to support a drug habit now faces charges of ripping off a South Abington Twp. man on a home improvement project over the summer.

Cunard, 53, 934 Sanderson Ave., Apt. E, was paid $700 by Morris Raub for deck and home maintenance Aug. 18, township Patrolman Paul Wolfe wrote in a criminal complaint. But Cunard never came back to do the work.

Cunard waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property Tuesday.

First Assistant Public Defender Joseph Kalinowski, who represented Cunard, declined to comment.

The $700 payment was half the $1,400 bill, which Cunard requested up front, according to Wolfe’s complaint. After Raub paid, Cunard never showed up to do the work and stopped returning calls.

Dunmore police arrested Cunard on Oct. 5 on charges he robbed Fidelity Bank, 101 N. Blakely St.

“Give me all the money you have, no sudden movements, I have a gun,” read a note he handed a teller, police said.

Cunard made off with $42 in an orange cloth bag. Dunmore police who caught up to him charged him with robbery, receiving stolen property, terroristic threats and theft by unlawful taking, charges still pending in Lackawanna County Court.

Raub, 62, read the robbery account in The Times-

Tribune and called South Abington police to report what happened to him.

Raub gave police a contract between him and Cunard to complete the work by Sept. 31 and a check that Cunard cashed Aug. 19.

Magisterial District Judge Laura M. Turlip arraigned Cunard on charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property Nov. 13 and set bail at $20,000. Cunard was already in jail on the bank robbery charge.

Suspecting Raub may not be Cunard’s only victim, Wolfe suggested other potential victims call their local police department.

Contact the writer:

jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9144;

@jkohutTT on Twitter

Carbondale

Tree lighting: City of Carbondale lighting of the Christmas trees and Tinsel Trail in Memorial Park across from City Hall, today, 6 p.m.

Dunmore

Holiday shopping: Holiday Shop Local, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Dunmore Community Center, 1414 Mon­roe Ave.

Greenfield Twp.

Historical Society: Greenfield Twp. Historical Society meeting, today, 7 p.m., heritage museum.

Regional

Club meets: Corvette Club of NEPA meeting, Dec. 12, 7 p.m., Marzoni’s, 26 Montage Moun­tain Road, Moosic; CCNEPA.com.

South Scranton

Christmas dinner: South Scran­ton After 50 Club Christmas dinner, Thursday, 1 p.m., Alfredo’s Restaurant on South Washing­ton Avenue.

Christmas concert: Adult Choir of Divine Mercy Parish annual Christmas concert, “Love Made A Way — The Journey of Christmas,” Dec. 14, 6 p.m., and Dec. 15, noon, 312 Davis St., light refreshments in the parish center following each show.

CLIPBOARD ITEMS may be sent to yesdesk@timesshamrock.com or Clipboard, c/o YES!Desk, 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, PA 18503. YES!Desk, 570-348-9121.

SCRANTON — A new attorney will advise a reconstituted city council when the new board takes over in January.

Council Solicitor Amil Minora, who submitted his letter of resignation Monday, has served as the board’s legal counsel for the past six years. His resignation is effective Jan. 6, the same day a new board comprised of Councilmen Pat Rogan, Bill Gaughan and Kyle Donahue, Councilman-elect Mark McAndrew and Councilwoman-elect Jessica Rothchild takes over.

“I resigned to allow the next council to appoint … their own choice,” said Minora, who is wrapping up his second stint as council solicitor after serving in that capacity in the mid-to-late 2000s.

This past summer, Minora helped council navigate the uncharted waters of replacing a criminal mayor who resigned mid-term. Minora said he’s proud his legal opinion on the proper process of replacing Bill Courtright following the former mayor’s July resignation and guilty plea on federal corruption charges withstood challenges in the courts.

Among other highlights of his tenure, Minora crafted Scranton’s new ethics code, which is modeled after the city of Reading’s ethics policy. Minora consulted with Reading officials and solicitors to adapt the policy for Scranton.

He was also instrumental in obtaining for council state police records of a closed investigation into the city’s double pensions. Council sought the records to aid its own investigation into a retirement incentive that improperly increased benefits for 35 nonuniform employees who retired in 2002 and 2007. With Minora negotiating on their behalf, council obtained the investigative file under a protective order in 2017.

“Throughout all of the controversies that went on in the city in the last six years, they haven’t involved council,” Minora said. “Now clearly that’s because you had a good council, but it’s also because council had a good counsel.”

Thanking Minora for his service, Rogan lauded the outgoing solicitor Monday for not charging fees in addition to his salary. That practice should set a precedent for future solicitors, Rogan said.

Minora will continue working at his private law practice, Minora, Krowiak and Munley in Scranton.

“It’s always there waiting for me, thank goodness,” he said.

Meanwhile, council will accept letters of interest and resumes from attorneys seeking the $46,000-per-year job until Dec. 13. Applicants must live in the city. The new council will choose Minora’s successor, Rogan said.

A strong candidate for the position should have a depth of knowledge in municipal law, Minora said.

“If I can be of any assistance to the incoming solicitor, please do not hesitate to call,” Minora wrote in his resignation letter. “Thank you for allowing me to be of service to the City.”

Contact the writer:

jhorvath@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9141;

@jhorvathTT on Twitter

Northeast Pennsylvania has a growing appetite for Domino’s, at least if you ask entrepreneur Seth Gollhardt.

In February, Gollhardt bought the former J.J. Bridjes, a popular restaurant in South Abington Twp. which closed last year, for $737,500.

He plans to relocate his current Abingtons restaurant, which is a few hundred yards away, into part of J.J.’s and lease out the rest of the building.

Today he’s opening his 14th restaurant in Wyoming, in the Midway Shopping Center, and has another planned for Mountain Top, in Fairview Twp., to open before the year ends.

Next year, he’ll open his 16th store in South Scranton, he said.

Gollhardt described a two-fold strategy for success, one in which he puts restaurants in underserved areas, and also adds stores in high density areas to shorten delivery times.

He did it in Wilkes-Barre. In a similar way, the Wyoming store closes the gap between those in Pittston and Kingston, and the South Scranton store will deliver hot pizza and appetizers faster for South Siders who would typically order from the Mulberry Street store.

He also has all the tech that makes pickup or delivery simple.

“Almost three-quarters of our orders are placed digitally, and more and more it’s on mobile devices,” he said.

Domino’s is an odd bird in a region saturated with independent pizzerias. Many of those family businesses enjoy fiercely loyal followers and chain restaurants struggle to compete.

Papa John’s closed its only two stores in the region in 2010.

Pizza Hut left prime commercial areas over the last five years or so and only has a handful of restaurants remaining. Uno Pizzeria and Grill closed its restaurant in Wilkes-Barre Twp. a decade ago and the one in Dickson City on Oct. 31.

“We do have some really great local pizza places, and I think consumers overall want to buy local, support local,” said Brenda Lidy, associate professor of hospitality and business management at Keystone College. “However, there’s still a market out there.”

The Domino’s brand can flourish because it embraced technology and streamlined the ordering process, she said. Its prices are typically much lower than independent pizza shops, too.

Gollhardt bought his first Domino’s restaurant in Chicago in 1986. He was 21 years old, and started as a delivery driver only two years before that.

“It’s all because I didn’t have a pen,” he said, explaining how he needed a summer job and applied first at a Baskin Robbins. “The manager seemed very upset that I didn’t bring my own pen to fill out the application … the rest is history.”

Contact the writer:

joconnell@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9131;

@jon_oc on Twitter

SCRANTON — The Lackawanna County commissioners meeting originally scheduled for this morning has been rescheduled for Dec. 11.

Commissioners last met just a week ago, on Nov. 27, to approve the county’s 2020 budget. County spokesman Joseph D’Arienzo pointed to the close proximity between the meetings as a reason for the date change.

The Dec. 11 meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in the fifth-floor conference room of the county’s government center at the former Globe store, 123 Wyoming Ave. Commissioners will meet again in the same location on Dec. 18.

— JEFF HORVATH

Published professors

University of Scranton

professors Oliver Morgan, Ph.D., Susan Poulson, Ph.D., Margarete Zalon, Ph.D., and Michael Jenkins, Ph.D., have recently become published authors.

Morgan, professor of counseling and human services, authored “Addiction, Attachment, Trauma, and Recovery: The Power of Connection,” which suggests a new model of addiction that incorporates neurobiology, social relationships and ecological systems and calls for a change in the established ways we think and behave about addiction and recovery, according to the university. He has worked for the university since 1990.

Poulson, professor of history, authored “Suffrage: The Epic Struggle for Women’s Right to Vote,” an explanation of how women overcame resistance from traditionalists, religious leaders and the political establishment to earn suffrage, according to the university. She has also worked for the university since 1990.

Zalon, professor of nursing, co-edited “Nurses Making Policy: From Bedside to Boardroom,” second edition, a practical guide written to help advanced students and nurse leaders develop health policy competencies to advocate for patients from the bedside to the larger political arena, according to the university, where she has worked since 1988.

Jenkins, associate professor of sociology, criminal justice and criminology, authored the chapter “International Policing and Peacekeeping” in “The Handbook of Social Control,” which offers a comprehensive review of the concepts of social control in today’s environment and focuses on the most relevant theories associated with social control, according to the university. He has worked for the university since 2013.

High notes

Members of the Beta Rho Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International held a basket raffle to support teachers early in their careers.

Members who won the baskets gave the winnings to a new teacher.

Teresa Cavalier gave her basket to her granddaughter’s kindergarten teacher in the Pittsburgh area; Barbara Kelly gave her basket to Brittany Peters, who teacher a Pre-K Counts class in the Tunkhannock Area School District; Lois Frantz presented her basket to Vicki Cain, a new kindergarten teacher at Faith Mountain Christian Academy in New Milford; and Barbara Davis also won a basket of supplies.

The international project of the society is called Support for Early Career Educators and was selected because statistics show that early career educators leave the teaching profession after only three to five years. The members hope with support from longtime career educators and retired teachers, the new teachers will commit to staying in teaching.

The October meeting was held at Dreyer Hall in Montrose.

Dec. 4, 1919

Oldest Scranton native dies at 92

Laura Brown Gregory, the oldest native-born resident of Scranton, died at her North Main Avenue home. She was 92 years old.

Gregory was born on Jan. 22, 1827, in the pioneer days of Scranton. For a time, she taught school until she married Isaac Gregory in 1850. She and her husband would move to Glenburn Twp., where she was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Waverly. When her husband died in 1870, she returned to Scranton.

She loved to share stories of the pioneering days of Scranton, such as seeing the first railroad train to arrive, the old Indian apple tree and hearing the bronze bell that called the children to the Brill schoolhouse.

She was survived by several nieces and nephews that included Stephen and Benjamin Tripp.

She was laid to rest at the Chinchilla Cemetery.

Spiritism at

Marywood

A lecture on the topic of Spiritism was presented on Dec. 3 at Marywood College by J. Godfrey Raupert.

Raupert, an authority on the subject and former member of the Society of Physical Research, told those gathered that the spirits we communicate with are impersonating the dead and that God did not send them.

He also addressed the dangers of the Ouija board. He said that the spirits use the board as a way to gain control of the operator.

Shopping list

Smoked shoulder hams were 23 cents per pound, bacon was 39 cents per pound, coffee was 42 cents per pound, five cans of sardines were 25 cents, a can of molasses was 12 cents, a box of shredded wheat was 12 cents, a can of peaches was 33 cents and two boxes of 20-Mule Team Borax were 25 cents.

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.

Crews from Pennsylvania American Water worked into the night Tuesday to repair a broken water main in Dickson City.

The break on the 500 block of Main Street closed a section of the road for several hours after the 16-inch main ruptured in the early morning. Just a few blocks away, crews also closed part of Main Street between Eagle Lane and Dundaff Street for unrelated construction work by mid-morning, further snarling traffic in the area.

Crews from Pennsylvania American Water located the water main break before 3 p.m. and started digging in the area, utility spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich said. She expected the repairs to take 12 hours to complete.

Water service was shut off from the I-81 overpass to Boulevard Avenue. A water tanker was made available for customers on the block. Pennsylvania American Water Co. said customers in Dickson City, Blakely and Archbald were affected.

Main Street between Bowman and Grier streets remained closed to traffic into the night, Dickson City Police Chief William Bilin-ski said. As night fell and temperatures dropped, crews used machinery headlights to continue making repairs.

The break led Valley View to dismiss its high school and middle school at 11 a.m. The elementary and intermediate schools were unaffected.

On its Facebook page, the Scranton School District posted that the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County on Rockwell Avenue in North Scranton has no water. Morning students went to Scranton High School or West Scranton High School; afternoon students did not go to CTC.

Contact the writer:

jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9144;

@jkohutTT on Twitter;

rtomkavage@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100 x 5365,

@rtomkavage on Twitter

SCRANTON — Marywood University has officially bought the Holy Family Residence, the nursing home and assisted living center founded in 1907.

Marywood paid $2.52 million to buy the home from Home for the Aged, Little Sisters of the Poor Inc., according to a deed filed with Lackawanna County.

The company began seeking a buyer in May 2018 for the home at 2500 Adams Ave., partly in Dunmore, partly in Scranton. Marywood and the company agreed on the purchase in March, but did not disclose a price.

Marywood will keep the home open with students learning there. For generations, the Little Sisters of the Poor congregation of Roman Catholic nuns operated the home, which houses 54 skilled nursing residents and 24 independent living residents in apartments.

— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

The Nanticoke man killed by police after stealing a squad car and kidnapping a policeman’s daughter died of multiple gunshot wounds, the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office announced Tuesday.

An autopsy determined 20-year-old Jordan Patrick Oliver was shot multiple times during a confrontation with the Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team in a wooded area near Hanover Twp. overnight Sunday, the coroner’s office said.

The manner of Oliver’s death was still pending the results of an investigation, Coroner Frank Hacken said in a statement. The Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the use of force and has not yet made a ruling on whether it was justified.

According to kidnapping and aggravated assault charges state police filed against Oliver before he was killed, police were dispatched to Greater Nanticoke Area High School around 3:30 p.m. Sunday to a report of a man holding a girl at knifepoint.

Police said they found Oliver standing in the parking lot while holding 15-year-old Samara Derwin — his ex-girlfriend and the daughter of Nanticoke police officer Michael Derwin — by her neck with a knife up against her throat.

The officers tried to negotiate with Oliver, who said he didn’t want to go to jail and that he would not hurt Derwin if officers stayed back, according to the complaint.

At one point when Derwin got separated from Oliver, officers told her to go sit in a waiting Nanticoke police SUV. The officers tried to arrest Oliver, who began struggling and broke loose after spraying them with pepper spray, according to the charges.

He then jumped into the police SUV and sped off with Derwin inside, police said. An officer on the scene fired as Oliver drove toward him, but the vehicle continued on and left the area.

Police issued an Amber alert for Derwin and began an hours-long manhunt for Oliver that ended with the deadly confrontation in the woods of Hanover Twp.

State police described finding Oliver “holding (Derwin) hostage” and then being killed after “deadly force was used.” Troopers have refused to provide more detail on the shooting.

Oliver’s father, Sean Oliver, has questioned the need for police to use lethal force, saying his son deserved to go to jail but didn’t warrant a death sentence.

Contact the writer:

jhalpin@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2058

A Waymart man is in custody today on charges he broke into a woman’s home in Clinton Twp. and shot a man there in the face.

Jesse Lester Skates, 29, is expected to go before a judge at the Wayne County Courthouse in Honesdale this morning to face counts of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, burglary and other related charges, state police at Honesdale said.

State police said that Skates broke into a home on Martin Street through a window at about 1:40 a.m. today.

The woman who lives there, whose name authorities have not released, awoke to the noise and saw Skates enter with a .22-caliber rifle.

She retreated into the bedroom and woke up a man sleeping there, whose name state police also did not immediately release.

Skates followed. After a brief argument, Skates shot the man in the face. The man survived.

A fight broke out, but a news release issued this morning by authorities did not specify who joined the fray. The rifle broke during the skirmish.

Skates pulled out a pocket knife and slashed at the man’s face. It caused a superficial laceration.

The woman called 911. Troopers rushed to the scene.

Skates fled in a dark Subaru. State police found him on Elk Lake Drive and arrested him after a brief pursuit.

The man shot remains in intensive care at Geisinger Community Medical Center but is expected to survive, state police said.

Check back for updates.

DICKSON CITY — Crews remain on site of the broken 16-inch water main in the 500 block of Main Street. Pennsylvania American Water is bringing in additional resources to assist with repairs and anticipate completing repairs and restoring service by this evening, according to the water company. To Water tankers are available at the following location: Genetti Manor parking lot, Scranton Orthopedics on Main Street and Schiff’s market. Customers should bring their own container when visiting a tanker for drinking water.

The water main break has also closed the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County, located on Rockwell Avenue in Scranton, for the second day.

— SARAH HOFIUS HALL

The Scranton School District will receive an additional $500,000 from the state to use in 2020.

The funding, announced Wednesday, will help the district balance its budget.

“We’re very thankful for that and appreciate the additional dollars,” said district Chief Recovery Officer Candis Finan, Ed.D., who applauded the efforts of community members and elected officials who lobbied for the funding.

School directors approved a proposed 2020 budget last month that calls for a 3.4% property tax increase but still leaves a $2.7 million deficit. The board must balance the budget by the end of the year. Administrators are working on trimming the $168 million spending plan.

The funding comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Empowerment funds, created in 2000 under the Education Empowerment Act. The state distributes the funds to school districts that are either in financial recovery or have a history of low-test performance.

“This funding goes to the children in school districts that need more help,” Rep. Marty Flynn, D-113, Scranton, said in a news release. “As I continue fighting for fair education funding, this money will benefit the students of the Scranton School District to give them more opportunities to succeed.”

While the district will use the funding for general purposes in 2020, the district must also remember the $500,000 is a one-time allotment, Finan said.

Using nonrecurring revenue to balance budgets helped create the school district’s deficit and led to the state placing the district in financial recovery in January. In the last three years, the board voted to borrow about $30 million to pay for expenses like salaries, textbooks and copier paper. The district also depleted other one-time revenue sources, including the health care fund.

School directors, elected representatives and community members have spent the last year asking Harrisburg to increase funding for the district.

Some board members estimated the district needed an additional $18.9 million a year to receive the average per-pupil state allotment for districts with similar demographics. If Pennsylvania distributed all basic education money through the funding formula enacted in 2016 — instead of just “new money” in the state budget — the Scranton School District would receive an extra $32.5 million a year.

New board President Katie Gilmartin said she appreciates the funding but the one-time revenue creates challenges for long-term planning.

“Every dollar is a good thing, but we need to budget and plan and rely on funds coming our way,” she said.

Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9133; @hofiushallTT on Twitter

SCRANTON

A 21-year-old man accused of shooting another man in the shoulder nearly a year ago entered a probationary program Wednesday as his case moves forward.

Philip Lynott, 101 Woodside Manor, Scranton, will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing scheduled Jan. 24.

Attorneys Wednesday placed Lynott in pretrial services, which provides treatment and rehabilitation to defendants prior to the case’s completion. Court staff told him that judges look favorably on defendants who successfully complete the program.

Lynott was charged Dec. 28 with aggravated assault and related counts for an altercation that started on social media.

Lynott is free on $100,000 bond.

— JOSEPH KOHUT

SCRANTON — After a rash of vehicle break-ins in the city, police are reminding residents to not leave valuables visible.

Since Oct. 20, police have responded to 19 reports of windows being smashed in the parking garage at Moses Taylor Hospital and the surrounding area, Police Capt. Dennis Lukasewicz said. Break-ins have also occurred in the parking garage and area around Geisinger Community Medical Center, including one Tuesday night.

The majority of the break-ins happen during the afternoon, and most had a purse, wallet, electronic device or other item visible.

“People need to take their valuables with them,” Lukasewicz said. “It’s that time of year when there’s an increase in this type of activity.”

— SARAH HOFIUS HALL

SCRANTON — U.S. Marshals apprehended a Scranton man wanted by city police for raping a 12-year-old girl.

Police filed charges against Jorge Aguilar, 34, 1317 Vine St., late last month after the victim told a family member that Aguilar had sexually abused her for months.

Marshals found him around 1:45 p.m. today in East Orange, N.J., U.S. Marshal for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Martin Pane said.

Aguilar was arrested without incident and is awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania to face charges of statutory sexual assault, rape of a child, aggravated indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and related charges.

— ROBERT TOMKAVAGE

SCRANTON — Noting her cooperation was crucial to solve a number of burglary cases, Lackawanna County Judge Vito Geroulo sentenced a woman to time served today for her role in the crime spree.

Dorri Smith, 29, will have to pay back nearly $77,000 to the victims of her crimes. The high end of her sentence is 23 months.

Smith said her actions stemmed from a severe drug addiction, which she has since kicked “cold turkey.”

“I want to sincerely apologize to the families me and my husband hurt,” she said.

Smith was part of a duo whose crime spree once drew a comparison from the district attorney’s office to “a modern day Bonnie and Clyde story, complete with a high-speed chase and a nationwide manhunt.”

She and her husband, Francis Smith, 41, burglarized roughly two dozen homes in Northeast Pennsylvania and Southern New York between Nov. 22, 2016 and Oct. 12, 2017. They were accused of stealing more than $900,000 in cash and property during their heists.

Francis Smith was sentenced last month to 10 to 30 years in state prison.

Dorri Smith began cooperating with state police in September 2017, pointing out which houses she and her husband burglarized.

Francis Smith fled in late 2017 and led officers on a high speed chase through the Downvalley. He crashed and police arrested him. However, after he posted bail, he and his wife fled to Panama City, Florida. After a manhunt, police captured the pair in May 2018 hiding in an apartment they rented under an alias.

Dorri Smith spent 512 days in jail prior to her release, the judge noted.

Geroulo asked Smith to reflect on what she took. Beyond money, she and her husband stole family heirlooms that cannot be replaced. Moreover, they stole the sense of security someone feels in their home.

“They never feel secure in their house again,” Geroulo said.

Dorri Smith must also spend three years on probation.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9144; @jkohutTT on Twitter

SCRANTON — An Olyphant man will spend at least three months in the Lackawanna County Prison after pleading guilty to corruption of minors.

Jeremy W. Whiteduck, 34, dabbed his eyes with tissues today as he tried to apologize to Judge Vito Geroulo.

“I’m really sorry, your honor,” was all he managed.

Geroulo sentenced Whiteduck to at least six months in jail. However, he is only required to serve half of the sentence in a cell; the rest can completed on home confinement. The high end of the sentence is 23 months.

Police charged Whiteduck earlier this year on charges he molested a Scranton girl for nine years beginning when she was 9 years old.

The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual assault.

Whiteduck initially gave the victim money to expose herself to him, police said. As she got older, he offered her more money to fondle her and have other inappropriate contact, police charged.

Whiteduck pleaded guilty in August to the felony count. His attorney, Bernard Brown, told the judge his client accepted responsibility for pictures and discussions but disputed physical contact.

Geroulo said Whiteduck displayed “incredibly poor judgement,” and should have been “source of security, not danger” for the girl.

Whiteduck was not deemed a sexually violent predator but must register as a sex offender for 15 years.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9144; @jkohutTT on Twitter

DICKSON CITY — Repairs have been completed on the 16-inch water main that ruptured on the 500 block of Main Street early Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania American Water spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich said. Service is being restored to all customers, but they may have cloudy or discolored water, she said. Customers should run cold water until it clears up.

— STAFF REPORT

SCRANTON — An Olyphant couple arrested in April for child abuse will spend nine months on probation, a Lackawanna County judge ruled today.

Steven D. Carey, 37, and Jenny Tello, 29, of 101 School St., both apologized to Judge Vito Geroulo and said they’ve learned much since their arrest. Police accused them of using a wooden board and belt to hit a 5-year-old boy’s backside.

They pleaded guilty in September to reckless endangerment.

“They’ve come out of this better people and better parents,” said their attorney, Joseph D’Andrea.

Police said the boy told an interviewer at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania that “daddy” struck him with wood while “Jenny” used the belt after others noticed bruises.

Police said “daddy” is Carey and “Jenny” is Tello — Carey’s live-in girlfriend.

Tello admitted to police that they both hit the child but denied she ever saw Carey use a piece of wood.

“I’m very sorry for my actions,” Tello said.

D’Andrea said both have gone through anger management and are cooperating with the Lackawanna County Office of Youth and Family Services.

Geroulo ordered them to continue their cooperation.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9144; @jkohutTT on Twitter