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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The vehicle in which a mother allegedly tried to kill herself and her two children last December met its end after an area towing company sold it to a salvage yard without any written authorization or record of the transaction, according to an investigation report into the matter.</p><p>It appears under dispute, meanwhile, whether a state trooper issued a verbal go-ahead for the vehicle&#8217;s release.</p><p>The 2001 Saturn SL1 is a key piece of evidence in the attempted homicide case of 33-year-old Melissa Ann Scholl, who tried to filter exhaust fumes from her vehicle&#8217;s tail pipe into a window as she and her two children, then ages 5 and 7, sat parked at the Williams Bus Line on Blackman Street on Dec. 9, 2015, according to prosecutors.</p><p>Scholl&#8217;s attorney, Larry Kansky, filed a motion last month in Luzerne County Court asking a judge to dismiss the mother&#8217;s charges on claims prosecutors lost, destroyed or mishandled multiple pieces of evidence, including her vehicle. A second motion, alleging even more lost evidence, was filed earlier this month.</p><p>Prosecutors have denied wrongdoing and maintained the vehicle was scrapped by ACT Truck &amp; Trailer in Wilkes-Barre Township without their authorization.</p><p>State and county investigators launched a probe into the car&#8217;s destruction last month. The investigation has been turned over to the state police&#8217;s vehicle fraud investigator and remains ongoing, a state police official said Tuesday.</p><p>The report on their initial findings, provided to the Times Leader on Tuesday by WNEP-TV, appears to back prosecutors&#8217; position, detailing a breakdown in communication between ACT and township police that resulted in the vehicle&#8217;s destruction and prompted the police department to change its policies on impounded vehicles.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Our fault&#8217;</strong></p><p>Cited in the report are &#8220;several potential violations&#8221; by the towing company.</p><p>Among them, owner Paul Jones acknowledged he never sent official notice to Scholl about picking up the vehicle, received anything in writing from state, county or township investigators that authorized him to sell or destroy it, or possessed paperwork documenting when it was sold or for how much.</p><p>Jones acknowledged &#8220;it was our fault getting rid of the vehicle,&#8221; but was one of multiple witnesses who claimed a state trooper authorized its release verbally, a practice generally accepted between the township and ACT, according to the report.</p><p>An employee and customer present at ACT heard Trooper Joseph Pericci say the car could be released after he and township police officer Michael Amditis completed their search of Scholl&#8217;s vehicle the day after the alleged attempted homicides, the report states. Jones said he heard the account from his employee second-hand and a third witness told investigators he heard a township officer order the release.</p><p>Amditis, however, told investigators Pericci only stated that the car could be left outside the garage.</p><p>Pericci, an investigator with the state police&#8217;s forensic sciences unit, was advised by his union not to issue a statement on the matter, according to the report.</p><p><strong>Policies to change</strong></p><p>Township police typically give ACT verbal authorization to release a vehicle, but a written impound ticket is issued first, the report states. A copy of the ticket issued in the Scholl case shows her Saturn was impounded Dec. 9, 2015, to be held for a search warrant.</p><p>The report further states the township police department doesn&#8217;t have its own impound lot and instead usually stores vehicles involved in &#8220;serious police incidents&#8221; at the township road department garage. Amditis acknowledged Scholl&#8217;s vehicle should have been taken there and that he failed to follow up with ACT on the status of the vehicle.</p><p>Township police Lt. Charles Dyanick told investigators Amditis would not be disciplined and his storage of the vehicle was &#8220;100 percent&#8221; in line with their regulations. Other officers within the department said no one from ACT reached out regarding the vehicle&#8217;s release.</p><p>Amditis told investigators the township police department&#8217;s policy regarding impounded vehicles &#8220;would be changing now based upon this incident.&#8221;</p><p>Jones told investigators he held onto Scholl&#8217;s vehicle for eight months and only sold it after attempts to reach her by phone failed. The report states the vehicle was sold to Harry&#8217;s U-Pull-It, but there was no record of a transaction.</p><p>Officials at the scrap yard declined to provide information on whether they&#8217;d received Scholl&#8217;s vehicle. A manager who identified himself as &#8220;Tony&#8221; told a reporter he would have to talk to the business&#8217;s owner, who did not return a phone call Tuesday afternoon.</p><p><strong>Tower weighs in</strong></p><p>City Wide Towing owner Bob Kadluboski, who formerly impounded cars for the Wilkes-Barre Police Department, said owners must be notified by certified mail before their vehicle can be sold. Then, Kadluboski said, the vehicle must be inspected and its value assessed.</p><p>A verbal authorization &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t happen,&#8221; Kadluboski said.</p><p>&#8220;They would say they&#8217;re done with the investigation,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Then we would do the notification to the last owner. Once it was complete, if they didn&#8217;t respond, we&#8217;d run it through through the Department of Motor Vehicles. That&#8217;s the law. There&#8217;s no other way to do it.&#8221;</p><p>Neither Kansky, First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce or Assistant District Attorney Angela Sperrazza could be reached for comment due to a gag order in the case issued by Judge David W. Lupas. The judge is expected to rule on Kansky&#8217;s motion at a later date.</p><p>Scholl, of Blackman Street, remains jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Scholl </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_web1_TTL101416scholl-3-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Scholl </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Witnesses say state trooper gave go-ahead</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Report: Towing company owner says scrapping Melissa Scholl’s vehicle ‘our fault’