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Los Angeles Angels hire Joe Maddon as manager

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Proposed Luzerne County budget includes 5% tax hike

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Former Wilkes-Barre police officer Robert Collins, who stands accused of numerous counts of forcing women to have sex with him while on the job, appeared before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas on Tuesday for a series of motions.</p><p>Collins, 54, appeared joined by attorney Jordan J. Freeman, who appeared in place of Collins&#8217; attorney Evan T. L. Hughes, who works at the same law office.</p><p>Collins was making a series of motions, including one for a piece of discovery from the commonwealth. The defense team is seeking a document that is over 600 pages long that has to do partially with the investigation into Collins.</p><p>Bernard Anderson, prosecutor with the state Attorney General&#8217;s office, suggested more than 100 pages of the document have already been provided to the defense. Anderson said the remainder of the document has to deal with unrelated investigations into Wilkes-Barre police and other officials and that it would be inappropriate to give the full document to the defense.</p><p>Lupas plans to issue a later opinion on the motion.</p><p>Collins also sought to get some of the money from his bail back. Lupas previously changed the amount of money Collins would need to spend to get out of jail, raising it from 2% to 10% of $50,000. Since Collins paid both amounts, he technically posted bail twice on the same set of charges, thus overpaying.</p><p>Lupas agreed to give Collins back the $1,000 he previously paid, since it was covered by the $5,000 he later paid.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Collins  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_Collins-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Collins  </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>

Ex-cop Collins appears in court, seeking discovery information