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Local roundup: Nanticoke Area baseball powers to 15-0 victory

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‘Mamma Mia!’ Short meeting at Wyoming Area

<p>While battling opioids is still a major focus, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said she wants to emphasize about one-third of cases processed by her office last year were for drunken driving.</p><p>&#8220;We still have a major issue with alcoholism in Luzerne County,&#8221; Salavantis told county council during her annual report Tuesday. &#8220;Some people drink at an extreme.&#8221;</p><p>Her office handled 1,257 drunken driving cases in 2018.</p><p>In addressing opioids, Salavantis said 2018 was the fourth consecutive year of record high drug overdose deaths, but the count would have been dramatically higher without widespread distribution of the opioid overdose antidote Naloxone, also known as Narcan.</p><p>Noting her office is among those that have distributed Narcan kits, Salavantis is optimistic growing community access to the antidote is contributing to a potential decline in deaths.</p><p>The county has had 19 overdose deaths this year to date, with three more pending, compared to 26 during the same period in 2018, she said.</p><p>Saying she has been trying to think &#8220;outside the box&#8221; for solutions, Salavantis worked with county Drug and Alcohol Director Steve Ross to create a new second-chance, pre-arrest diversion program allowing law enforcement the option to refrain from filing certain types of charges if offenders fulfill a contract to undergo drug treatment and meet other requirements.</p><p>Avoiding a criminal record may motivate those with substance use disorder to stay clean and help them keep employment, including professionals who say they could &#8220;lose everything&#8221; if charges are filed, she said.</p><p>The new program started pilot implementation in October. The nonprofit Addiction Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., is presenting the county with an award in April for addressing the problem in a new way, and the county&#8217;s program has inspired other agencies to start similar ones, she said.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re doing great things here,&#8221; said Salavantis. &#8220;For once, Luzerne County is ahead of the game.&#8221;</p><p>Her office had assumed control of the county&#8217;s Drug Task Force from the state Attorney General&#8217;s Office in late 2016, believing local oversight of the law enforcement agency coalition would bolster efforts to combat drug activity.</p><p>In 2018, the task force made 134 arrests and seized 24 weapons and the following quantities of drugs: heroin alone or mixed with fentanyl, 1,446.78 grams; fentanyl, 5 kilos plus 676.34 grams; methamphetamine, 508.25 grams; crack/cocaine, 677.13 grams; and marijuana, 31.6 pounds.</p><p>The 5 kilos, seized in a Hazleton drug bust, was enough to kill 2.5 million people, she said. While Hazleton is being described by agents as a &#8220;source city&#8221; for drugs coming from Mexico and other areas, Salavantis said dealers from outside cities are &#8220;coming in everywhere&#8221; due to the demand.</p><p>The task force also has been &#8220;watching the postal system&#8221; seeking mailed drugs.</p><p>&#8220;Our agents are on the street trying to prevent these drugs from getting into the hands of our residents,&#8221; said Salavantis, who is seeking her third, four-year term this year.</p><p><strong>Clearing backlog</strong></p><p>Salavantis also showed a photograph of tiny or disguised data storage devices containing child pornography that were found by Spike, a Labrador Retriever trained in electronic detection. The canine was provided to the office through nonprofit funding due to its proactive Internet Crimes Against Children program headed by detective Charles Balogh, she said.</p><p>One of the items found by Spike: a device hidden in a cigarette lighter containing thousands of child pornography images and videos, she said.</p><p>Balogh&#8217;s division received 82 tips from the National Center for Missing &amp; Exploited Children last year, which led to 32 search warrants and 24 arrests, she said.</p><p>Overall, the district attorney&#8217;s office opened 4,436 cases last year and closed out 4,826. Her office has been working with the courts, conflict counsel and public defender&#8217;s office to speed up the processing of cases, eliminating a backlog of more than 600, she said, describing the group achievement as a &#8220;big deal.&#8221;</p><p>Salavantis pointed to the number of cases called to trial as evidence of the &#8220;drastic difference&#8221; &#8212; 5,050 in 2018 and 2,062 in 2017.</p><p>The office had a $4.4 million budget in 2018 and ended up coming in $80,186 below it, she said. On the revenue side, the office brought in $879,674, an increase of $37,021.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Salavantis </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_salavantis_ebmeeting.jpg</photo0><caption0>Salavantis </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

As opioid epidemic rages, DA Salavantis tells council DUI still major problem