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<p>LARKSVILLE &#8212; A district judge heard testimony from eight witnesses in a preliminary hearing Monday for two police officers who allegedly tried to cover up a friend&#8217;s crash exactly one year ago to the date.</p><p>After more than four hours of testimony, defense attorneys John Pike and Shelley Centini made the motion for a decision to be made at a later date. Centini also said it would give them time to prepare a brief to argue the charges against John Fronzoni and Michael Thomas.</p><p>Pike represents Fronzoni, 35, and Centini represents Thomas, 28.</p><p>Magisterial District Judge Tupper, who said he had not seen some of the charges that Fronzoni and Thomas face in his 22 years as judge, agreed with giving all involved time to digest the lengthy hearing.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not an easy case,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Once the hearing was over, Pike said there was &#8220;insufficient evidence&#8221; to implicate his client. Centini also said that there was &#8220;absolutely no evidence&#8221; that Thomas did anything wrong.</p><p>Fronzoni is alleged to have interfered with the taking of reports by officers responding to the scene of the crash that occurred shortly before 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2014 when his friend William Ritsick, of Nanticoke, crashed his vehicle into a pole between East Luzerne Avenue and Murray Street in Larksville.</p><p>At the time, Fronzoni was a part-time assistant police chief of the Courtdale Borough Police Department, a part-time officer at the Edwardsville Borough Police Department and a full-time firefighter for the Larksville Borough Fire Department.</p><p>Larksville EMT Lori Amos testified that she arrived first at the crash before Fronzoni and found Ritsick standing outside of the vehicle. Amos said Ritsick told her that he had been drinking and allegedly asked if he should flee the scene.</p><p>Fronzoni allegedly then arrived on the scene, told Ritsick to sit inside his vehicle and allegedly told Amos to write &#8220;no patient contact&#8221; in the paperwork.</p><p>Greg Johnson, a Courtdale police officer, was the first police officer to respond to the crash scene. He testified that he had arrived on the scene to assist when Fronzoni told him that Ritsick was a friend who was &#8220;in (Fronzoni&#8217;s) truck and he&#8217;s staying there.&#8221;</p><p>Johnson testified that Fronzoni instructed him to not run a &#8220;10-28&#8221;, which is code to run a vehicle&#8217;s registration information through county dispatch.</p><p>&#8220;I knew something was wrong,&#8221; Johnson said.</p><p>Johnson testified that he called Thomas to tell him about Fronzoni&#8217;s instructions before Thomas had arrived. He said Thomas replied that &#8220;Fronzoni is going to make me lose my job.&#8221;</p><p>Raymond Glova, another responding officer from Plymouth Borough Police Department, testified that he urged Johnson at the time to run the check. Glova also testified that Johnson, who had only been on the job for a week at the time of the crash, &#8220;felt pressure&#8221; because of Fronzoni&#8217;s orders.</p><p>Glova added that Fronzoni &#8220;appeared to be slightly impaired&#8221; while on the scene.</p><p>Defense attorneys, however, argued that since Johnson is a member of the Courtdale Borough Council, he was technically in charge of Fronzoni.</p><p>Joshua Evans, a K-9 officer with the Larksville Police Department, later testified that SCOPES &#8212; the database used to process vehicle registration and other information &#8212; was down at the time of the crash.</p><p>Witnesses also testified hearing Thomas, who arrived at the scene a short time later, tell Fronzoni to &#8220;get out of here&#8221; while Fronzoni attempted to hook Ritsick&#8217;s car up to the tow truck. Fronzoni then allegedly left the scene with Ritsick.</p><p>William Petriga, the tow truck driver, reported that Fronzoni appeared to be in a hurry while he was at the scene of the crash.</p><p>Joseph Hudak, a volunteer firefighter for the Larksville Fire Department, also testified that he overheard Fronzoni say that the crash &#8220;didn&#8217;t happen.&#8221;</p><p>According to the criminal complaint, Thomas indicated in his report that he drove around the surrounding area after leaving the crash scene to look for Fronzoni and Ritsick.</p><p>Larksville police Chief John Edwards told investigators that he didn&#8217;t believe Thomas&#8217; version of the events of the crash. When questioned by Edwards on the same day of the crash, Thomas &#8220;became confrontational, argumentative&#8221; and then immediately resigned from the Larksville Police Department, according to criminal complaints filed with the court.</p><p>Investigators previously obtained Thomas&#8217; cellphone records under a search warrant issued in April, following the referral of the case to the state Attorney General&#8217;s Office by the Luzerne County District Attorney&#8217;s Office.</p><p>Referring to Thomas&#8217; phone records, state investigator Ralph Zezza testified that Thomas got a call from Fronzoni at 3:05 a.m. on the morning of the crash and a second call at 10:16 a.m. on Dec. 22.</p><p>Fronzoni faces 19 misdemeanor counts, including charges of witness intimidation, obstruction, tampering with evidence and related conspiracy charges. Thomas is charged with two count of obstruction, three counts of hindering apprehension and one count of tampering with evidence.</p><p>Tupper said he would render his decision sometime in January, but an exact date wasn&#8217;t immediately available.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Michael Thomas, 28, makes his way back into District Judge James Tupper&#8217;s courtroom on Monday. Travis Kellar | Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_IMG_0847.jpg</photo0><caption0>Michael Thomas, 28, makes his way back into District Judge James Tupper&#8217;s courtroom on Monday. Travis Kellar | Times Leader </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_IMG_0861.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">John Fronzoni, 35, makes his way back into District Judge James Tupper&#8217;s courtroom on Monday. Travis Kellar | Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_IMG_0861.jpg</photo1><caption1>John Fronzoni, 35, makes his way back into District Judge James Tupper&#8217;s courtroom on Monday. Travis Kellar | Times Leader </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Judge delays decision after lengthy preliminary hearing for cops accused of covering up Larksville crash