web1_mohegan.jpg

Mohegan Sun Pocono names new president, general manager

web1_Clinton.jpg

Letter to the Editor: Hillary Clinton’s tactics no longer fresh or effective, writer says

<p>The only thing more unsettling than the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board having the capability to borrow up to $190 million on its &#8220;Pathway to the Future&#8221; was the other June 10 front-page Times Leader headline &#8211; that the district&#8217;s former board president might be an extortionist.</p><p>Federal prosecutors charged Lou Elmy with extorting cash, alcohol and drugs from Luzerne County prisoners who were under his supervision when he was a counselor at the facility.</p><p>Let&#8217;s hope this criminal investigation is only the tip of the iceberg, because, for all we know, the 52-year-old city resident might have been engaging in other shady backroom deals while serving as the powerful WBA school board president at a time when decisions were being made to spend more than $100 million to build a consolidated high school and renovate other district buildings.</p><p>During Elmy&#8217;s reign, there were a lot of contracts up for grabs, not to mention teaching jobs.</p><p>Elmy was employed as a work-release counselor at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. Based on prosecutor&#8217;s accusations, his $58,413 salary apparently wasn&#8217;t enough compensation, so he did a little moonlighting on the side. Prosecutors said he fleeced prisoners in exchange for special privileges and unauthorized leaves of absence.</p><p>Elmy, who earned his living on the public dole for 20 years, agreed to plead guilty to doctoring court orders, according to court papers. If what prosecutors say is true, Elmy pulled off a disgusting extortion scheme by lifting judges&#8217; signatures from older court orders and transposing them onto his phony ones.</p><p>Prosecutors say Elmy&#8217;s illegal activity spanned nearly three years, from 2013 to earlier this year &#8211; when he was first charged with distribution and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and possessing a firearm while being a habitual drug user. Who knew there was more to come?</p><p>This is the man who also was in charge of the WBA School Board when it, despite fervent public protests, pushed through a plan to merge Meyers and Coughlin high schools at the Coughlin site, a less than three-acre lot on a one-way street in a flood zone in downtown Wilkes-Barre. Many are still wondering why this board is sticking so ferociously to this plan, which still hasn&#8217;t received zoning approval.</p><p>The board, under Elmy&#8217;s leadership, not only ignored many members of the public, it dissed internal and external task force committees that were formed to study various facility plans and then offer input. It was a waste of their time and effort, some of those committee members said publicly.</p><p>&#8220;Elmy wielded significant influence as the liaison between the court and (the inmate),&#8221; in that he was responsible for updating the court on how the prisoner was behaving in the work release program, prosecutors said in court documents.</p><p>It&#8217;s simply shocking that if Elmy was in fact a drug addict and extortionist, he also was wielding tremendous influence during a critical time in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.</p><p>The school board was awarding contracts galore, including to four firms to plan and design the new merged high school and, separately, to a company to renovate the former Mackin Street Elementary School at a cost of approximately $8 million.</p><p>Anything Elmy had a say and role in is now suspect and needs to be thoroughly investigated by law enforcement.</p><p>But at least this guy had the presence of mind to try to protect his pension and county benefits. Luzerne County officials had suspended him after the initial charges regarding crack cocaine distribution were filed. Elmy then resigned before he could be terminated.</p><p>A subsequent Times Leader article reported that Elmy might recoup the $66,315 he paid into his county pension, but he may lose his full taxpayer-subsidized pension due to provisions in the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act. Extortion is one of the crimes that could cost a public employee his or her pension.</p><p>In light of the latest charges against him, county officials are now looking into changing his departure from a resignation to a termination with cause. That also would deprive him of receiving pay for unused vacation and/or sick days, the Times Leader reported.</p><p>Elmy&#8217;s looking at a maximum sentence of life behind bars and up to $250,000 in fines on each of two charges against him. The question now is what did he give up during plea-bargaining talks with the FBI? Or whom?</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Roccograndi-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Roccograndi-2.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Zeroing In</p><p>Betty Roccograndi</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Betty Roccograndi, a former Times Leader reporter and award-winning journalist, is a freelance columnist. Reach her by email at broccograndi@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Zeroing In: Investigate accused extortionist Lou Elmy’s dealings while he led school board