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Lottery Numbers for Thursday, Sept. 29

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Court: Defendants can sue over public defenders

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Days before Almyadd Robert Van Dyke allegedly raped a woman in Dupont, a high school student and a woman reported he grabbed them in separate incidents that did not result in serious charges against him.</p><p>The mother of the student said Van Dyke grabbed the arm of her 16-year-old daughter near Meyers High School, trying to lead the teenager away with him. The girl&#8217;s mother, who asked to be identified only by her first name Renee, said when she later confronted Van Dyke he boasted he would do it again, even brazenly posing for a photo she snapped to show police.</p><p>Renee, wondered if the rape could have been prevented had police filed charges severe enough to put Van Dyke in prison instead of holding him for a few hours at headquarters and releasing him when he sobered up.</p><p>&#8220;I want to know why charges weren&#8217;t pressed,&#8221; Renee said Thursday. She said she had yet to hear back from the officer or anyone from the police department on why Van Dyke was let go.</p><p>A call by the Times Leader to Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Marcella Lendacky was not returned Thursday.</p><p>Renee did hear from a woman who saw Renee&#8217;s Facebook post and said Van Dyke grabbed her outside a salon in Kingston on Sept. 22, the day before doing the same thing to the girl.</p><p>Kingston police filed summary citations for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct against Van Dyke of Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 23.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre police have not filed anything yet against Van Dyke in connection with his contact with the girl last Friday. A post on the department&#8217;s Facebook page gave the following description of the incident: &#8220;Officers responded to a report of a possible kidnapping. Upon arrival, officers determined that a kidnapping did not occur but (Van Dyke) was under the influence of narcotics. Citation will be filed.&#8221;</p><p>Renee said her daughter refused to go with Van Dyke and the teenager made frantic calls to her mother to come pick her up.</p><p>The girl recalled Van Dyke told her he was 36 and asked her personal questions. She said he said, &#8220;You look lonely. I think you need my company.&#8221;</p><p>When her mother did call she told her daughter to walk to a nearby convenience store. Before the girl got to the store, her mother arrived and with another daughter in their vehicle, the three went looking for Van Dyke and found him walking on Carlisle Street, Renee said. There she confronted Van Dyke who told her, &#8220;Yeah I did it. So what I&#8217;ll do it again.&#8221; She tried to conceal taking a photo of him with her cellphone but he saw her and posed, she said.</p><p>Van Dyke walked away and Renee said she followed him as she called Luzerne County 911 to report what happened. She said Bob Kadluboski joined in the search and helped locate Van Dyke on Gregory Street where police took him into custody.</p><p>Kadluboski, a city towing contractor, said he heard a report on his police scanner of an attempted kidnapping. He said he got involved because police were tied up responding to an incident in Kirby Park.</p><p>&#8220;At first I didn&#8217;t pay much attention, but then I thought this is serious,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Renee said she spoke to an officer as she and her children sat in their vehicle watching as other officers handcuffed Van Dyke and had him sit on the ground.</p><p>The officer was reluctant to file charges against Van Dyke, Renee said. She recalled the officer telling her, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think you should press charges.&#8221; She asked why and she said he responded, &#8220;I think the guy has mental problems.&#8221; Renee said she works with mentally challenged people and told the officer, &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing wrong with this guy.&#8221;</p><p>The officer informed her if he was to file charges her daughter would have to testify against Van Dyke, the woman said.</p><p>Her daughter said she told the officer, &#8220;I don&#8217;t care. I will do what I have to do.&#8221;</p><p>Other girls walk home from school and after practice sometimes at night, she said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want what happened to me to happen to them,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The night of the alleged rape, Dupont police had not yet completed their investigation and had yet to file charges against Van Dyke.</p><p>But Wilkes-Barre police again met up with Van Dyke, this time arresting him on a felony charge of criminal trespass and lodging him in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $5,000 bail.</p><p>Arrest papers said Wilkes University security officers had detained Van Dyke around 11 p.m. on Sept. 24 after he followed two female students into a building on campus and attempted to hide from the officers. It wasn&#8217;t the first time security dealt with Van Dyke, he had been warned before about trespassing on school property, the papers said.</p><p>Van Dyke remains in the county prison for lack of $200,000 bail on the rape-related charges.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Van Dyke </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_VANDYKE-2c-ALMYADD-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Van Dyke </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Police had chance to arrest suspect before alleged assault</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Woman: Police could have kept accused rapist off the street