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In a move defying all good sense, the Mohegan Sun Arena&#8217;s appointed caretakers intend to install a plaque there honoring the late Anthony J. Lupas Jr.Lupas, an alleged Ponzi scheme perpetrator who was ruled incompetent to stand trial, died in April at age 80.The area native had served in various capacities in the community, including as an original member of the Luzerne County Convention Center Authority when it began overseeing the Wilkes-Barre Township entertainment facility. Last week, authority chairwoman Donna Cupinski announced a plaque paying tribute to Lupas will be placed at the arena&#8217;s East Gate, joining tributes to three other deceased members: Frances Bartlomowicz, Daniel Distasio and Monsignor Andrew McGowan.&#8220;Words escape me for Tony&#8217;s contribution to this arena,&#8221; she said.For different reasons, words today presumably also escape the 40-plus claimants who say Lupas swindled them out of a combined multimillion-dollar sum. Prosecutors claimed the longtime lawyer stole more than $6 million over an 18-year period.Perhaps the arena&#8217;s plaque should be inscribed with the words of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, who in 2013 announced compensation would be paid to those alleged victims. &#8220;The Lupas matter,&#8221; he said, &#8220;is one of the most egregious cases of attorney theft of clients&#8217; escrow funds that I have seen in the 20 years that I have been on the Supreme Court.&#8221;Separate from the alleged investment fraud, a Times Leader review of Lupas&#8217; billing while solicitor for the Wilkes-Barre Area School District showed that payments to him rose six-fold over a three-year span. An audit could not conclude whether he overbilled the district, in part because the record-keeping was so poor.Lupas was not convicted of any charge. A federal judge last year dismissed the fraud case, based on determinations that Lupas couldn&#8217;t reasonably stand trial; his brain and body had failed him. He died eight months later.Stamping the Lupas legacy on a high-profile building, considering the cloud of suspicion that his actions created, is inappropriate.Regrettably, it smacks of the same misguided notions that allow certain Northeastern Pennsylvania residents to lionize figures such as disgraced Congressman Daniel J. Flood while saying, he might have been a crook, but he was our crook. It sends a lousy message about our values and sets a shoddy example for future generations.The adulation of questionable characters needs to end.

Our Opinion: Mohegan Sun Arena plaque honoring the late Anthony Lupas a slap in the face