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Toomey, Casey team to introduce cyber-stalking bill

Their view: Are we doing our enemies’ work for them?

WILKES-BARRE — A Plains Township man who’s accused of firebombing the Luzerne County Children and Youth Services building has been found guilty in an assault case that predates those charges.

A jury convicted Phillip Finn Jr. Wednesday on his 49th birthday after deliberating for just shy of four hours on a single misdemeanor count of simple assault.

Finn was arrested in January 2017, court records show, after his girlfriend, Leah Garrah, made reports of a domestic incident.

Garrah told police Finn struck her and shoved her to the floor, before throwing her out the back door, where she cleared the steps and landed on the ground.

Police said she was found to have a red and swollen face, along with abrasions on her leg. She reported she was having trouble breathing due to pain in her chest.

After deliberation, jurors determined that Finn was guilty of the count of simple assault. Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough, who presided over the case, then found Finn guilty of a summary harassment count.

Vough initially planned on sentencing Finn on Wednesday, but postponed the sentence after a request from Assistant District Attorney Brittany Quinn, who said Garrah would likely want to be there for the sentencing.

Sentencing was set for March 15.

<strong>Firebombing case</strong>

This is not the only legal issue Finn is facing. He stands accused of using Molotov cocktails to firebomb the Children and Youth Services building on North Pennsylvania Avenue, Wilkes-Barre, on March 6, 2017.

He’s facing federal felony charges of interstate communications to threaten another person and use of fire to commit a felony, along with additional counts of stalking and interstate communications for allegedly threatening Children and Youth employees.

Finn accused the agency of trying to take his then 8-year-old daughter away from him, sending multiple profanity-laden messages to harass a caseworker’s ex-husband.

Federal investigators say Finn performed Google searches of the “best way to threaten someone” before the firebombing.

After Wednesday’s verdict, Vough ordered Finn be returned to the Lackawanna County Correctional Facility to await both his sentencing and his federal trial.

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By Patrick Kernan

pkernan@www.timesleader.com

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Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan

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Accused firebomber found guilty in separate assault case