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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Former Coughlin High School teacher, administrator and wrestling coach Stephen Stahl will return to an empty home amid talks of divorce, according to court testimony.</p><p>Stahl, 48, of Hunlock Creek, was granted parole Tuesday from Luzerne County Correctional Facility, where he had served just over six months for a corruption of minors conviction.</p><p>Attorneys for both sides said Stahl&#8217;s wife no longer lives at the address to which he was released as the couple enters divorce proceedings. Divorce paperwork could not be located Tuesday.</p><p>Judge Michael T. Vough sentenced the former teacher in March to serve six to 23 months behind bars after a jury in January found him guilty of allegations he engaged in an 18-month sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student.</p><p>The victim, now 27, joined Assistant District Attorney Nancy Violi in arguing against Stahl&#8217;s release, saying he has shown no sign of remorse nor any willingness to take responsibility for his actions.</p><p>Violi made reference to a Twitter account allegedly operated by Stahl which, between the time his of trial and sentencing, produced a number of posts which appeared to make disparaging comments about the victim.</p><p>Posts from the account, @CHSWrestleClub, contained among other things several negative references to a &#8220;home wrecker&#8221; and the hashtag #freestahl. Earlier posts included pictures of Stahl and his family.</p><p>Violi expressed her intentions to call on Luzerne County Detective Charles Balogh to testify about the social media activity, while Stahl&#8217;s defense attorney Edward Bezdecki argued further discussion of the Twitter account would provoke a &#8220;media circus.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;There are a lot of victims in this case,&#8221; Bezdecki said. &#8220;He&#8217;s done nothing wrong other than what he was found guilty of.&#8221;</p><p>Vough chose not to allow the testimony as the alleged social media activity occurred prior to sentencing, and not while Stahl was incarcerated.</p><p>The judge said his decision Tuesday would be based on Stahl&#8217;s conduct in prison and whether Stahl met the requirements for release.</p><p>However, Vough assured Stahl he will not tolerate similar internet or social media activity which can be traced back to Stahl &#8220;in any way.&#8221;</p><p>If Stahl has any contact with the victim in the case, via a third party or otherwise, Vough said Stahl will serve the remainder of his sentence in prison.</p><p>&#8220;I will max you out,&#8221; Vough said. &#8220;That&#8217;s not a threat, that&#8217;s a promise.&#8221;</p><p>Vough in August denied Stahl&#8217;s request to file a late appeal after the man argued circumstances beyond his control &#8212; including an alleged inability to contact the county Office of the Public Defender &#8212; prevented him from filing appeal documents on time.</p><p>Stahl currently is appealing the judge&#8217;s decision denying his appeal.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Former Coughlin High School teacher Stephen Stahl enters the Luzerne County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon for a parole hearing. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL100715stahl.jpg</photo0><caption0>Former Coughlin High School teacher Stephen Stahl enters the Luzerne County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon for a parole hearing. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By James O&#8217;Malley</p><p>jomalley@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Stephen Stahl gets parole from Coughlin student-teacher sex sentence