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Misericordia employee will serve on authority

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Police official placed off duty; administration says it’s a personnel matter

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; After he admitted to having sex with an underage girl several times, a Laurel Run man was sentenced Monday to 18 to 36 months in prison for statutory sexual assault.</p><p>Christopher Michael Cornell, 21, was also sentenced on an unrelated burglary charge which could double his prison time to up to six years.</p><p>Police say Cornell, who was 20 at the time, had sex with the 15-year-old Nanticoke girl multiple times in his East Noble Street residence last July. He was arrested in September after a two-month investigation by Nanticoke police.</p><p>Cornell pleaded guilty to the count in January.</p><p>Cornell&#8217;s attorney, Christine Marie Trout, asked Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. to consider Cornell as a candidate for boot camp.</p><p>Cornell agreed, saying he believed the structured environment would allow him to improve himself.</p><p>Sklarosky said he would have no objections to Cornell ending up in boot camp, but he said this determination would ultimately have to be made by the Department of Corrections.</p><p>In addition to the statutory sexual assault count, Sklarosky also sentenced Cornell to 12 to 36 months on the burglary charge. These sentences will be served consecutively, or one after another, at a state prison.</p><p>Cornell was also sentenced on a third count of theft by unlawful taking, but that won&#8217;t add to his time behind bars because the judge gave him credit for time served.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Cornell </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_web1_Cornell.jpg</photo0><caption0>Cornell </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Laurel Run man gets up to six years in prison for teen sex, burglary