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Suspended Wilkes-Barre Area teacher, soccer coach headed to higher court on more sex charges

Tight margins shown at area rehab and psychiatric hospitals

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; An ex-Coughlin principal ensnared in a sex scandal between his former dean of students and a 16-year-old girl was sentenced Thursday to three years in the county&#8217;s Intermediate Punishment Program on an endangering the welfare of children charge.</p><p>Frank J. Michaels, 68, of Forty Fort, where he remains an active borough councilman, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/590683/former-coughlin-principal-pleads-guilty-in-connection-to-stephen-stahl-case" target="_blank">pleaded guilty in September</a> to charges he lied about knowledge of Stephen Stahl&#8217;s sexual relationship with the student. One count each of perjury and false swearing were dropped in exchange for the retired principal&#8217;s plea.</p><p>Luzerne County Judge Fred A. Pierantoni III ordered Michaels to serve the first nine months of the sentence under house arrest.</p><p>Michaels declined to comment as he exited the courthouse hand-in-hand with his wife, but apologized during the hearing to his family, the victim, and &#8220;the thousands of students I have been involved with in my 45 years as an educator for any disappointments I may have caused them.&#8221;</p><p>Stahl, Coughlin&#8217;s former wrestling coach and dean of students, served <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/4846/suspended-coughlin-dean-stephen-stahl-sentenced-to-6-to-23-months-in-luzerne-county-prison" target="_blank">six months on a corruption of minors conviction</a> after a jury found he engaged in an 18-month sexual relationship with the victim that began in 2004 and occurred on and off school grounds.</p><p>Now 28, she read aloud a prepared statement in court surrounded by family, scolding her one-time principal for &#8220;protecting the wrong person.&#8221;</p><p>The Times Leader does not identify sexual assault victims.</p><p>Michaels testified during Stahl&#8217;s trial and denied having any knowledge of the relationship, saying in court that, as principal, he would&#8217;ve known if the alleged conduct was going on. When asked by a defense attorney if he ever received any hint of the relationship, Michaels responded, &#8220;Never.&#8221;</p><p>A former Coughlin teacher, however, came forward and said she told Michaels students were talking about Stahl &#8220;hooking up&#8221; with the girl. The teacher, Tresa Malligo, said Michaels thanked her and said he&#8217;d take care of it, according to arrest papers.</p><p>Another witness told investigators Michaels took a paycheck to Stahl&#8217;s classroom, put it on a desk and asked Stahl whether a &#8220;piece of a&#8211;&#8211;&#8221; was worth his salary and pension. The witness said Michaels also told him he ordered Stahl to look at the paycheck &#8220;any time you get the temptation&#8221; and think, &#8220;is that piece of a&#8211;&#8211; worth your paycheck?&#8221;</p><p>Michaels&#8217; attorney, Joseph F. Sklarosky Sr., said Michaels has &#8220;suffered too&#8221; in that he lost his teaching certificate as well as two teaching jobs. Sklarosky, pushing for leniency, argued Michaels had no prior record and cooperated fully.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s not a perfect man,&#8221; Sklarosky said. &#8220;He&#8217;s made a horrible, horrible mistake here but he takes full responsibility for it.&#8221;</p><p>Michaels&#8217; mistake, the victim said, changed her life forever.</p><p>&#8220;You are looking at me today as a grown woman,&#8221; she said, &#8220;but I am speaking to you as the 16-year-old girl who you referred to as a &#8216;piece of a&#8211;&#8211;, and also for every other young woman who walked through the halls of Coughlin High School after you allowed what was going on in your school to became an accepted behavior.&#8221;</p><p>She said she chose to forgive Michaels, even if he&#8217;s not sorry.</p><p>&#8220;If I don&#8217;t, the next 12 years of my life will again be affected by you and I refuse to let it,&#8221; she said.</p><p>In addition to Michaels&#8217; conviction, the Stahl case also led to the termination of former shop teacher Brian Hampel, who was accused of acting as a lookout when Stahl had sexual contact with the victim in his classroom. Hampel was fired in September.</p><p>In an unrelated incident, Hampel was <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/597994/ex-coughlin-high-school-shop-teacher-charged-with-corruption-of-minors" target="_blank">charged last month with corruption of minors</a> on allegations he supplied alcohol to Coughlin students&#8217; parties and had inappropriate contact with females.</p><p>Another former Coughlin teacher, Robert J. Havard Jr., was <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/607902/suspended-wilkes-barre-area-teacher-soccer-coach-headed-to-higher-court-on-additional-charges" target="_blank">hit with additional charges Thursday</a>, alleging he had sexual contact with a second former student.</p><p>Following Thursday&#8217;s hearing, Assistant District Attorney Nancy Violi and Luzerne County Detective Charles Balogh credited the victim&#8217;s courage, noting her bravery has galvanized others to come forward. The victim encouraged others not to be ashamed to do the same.</p><p>&#8220;Together, we can stop this,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s much more prevalent than we ever imagined.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Retired Coughlin Principal Frank Michaels leaves the Luzerne County Courthouse after being sentenced Thursday on a child endangerment charge related to the Stephen Stahl student-sex scandal. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL117016michaels1-7.jpg</photo0><caption0>Retired Coughlin Principal Frank Michaels leaves the Luzerne County Courthouse after being sentenced Thursday on a child endangerment charge related to the Stephen Stahl student-sex scandal. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>INSIDE</strong></p><p>Former Coughlin teacher hit with additional corruption of minors charges, page 4A.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL.</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">iqt8a_IHnRw</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqt8a_IHnRw</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;">&lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/iqt8a_IHnRw&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Retired Coughlin principal Frank J. Michaels has been sentenced to three years probation on an endangering the welfare of children charge.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;">Joe Dolinsky</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Retired Coughlin principal sentenced in teacher-sex scandal