`jackie' Too Mindless To Be Tasteless

2 Plead Guilty To Robbery Of Local Massage Parlor

By CHRIS SCHNEIDMILLER; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Saturday, November 15, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 3A 





LAKE TWP.- One teenager's hatred for a black high school student led him
and another teenager to burn a cross in a local family's yard, authorities
said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Police on Friday charged Jamie Joe Krochta, 18, of Hunlock Creek, and a
17-year-old with ethnic intimidation, criminal mischief and simple trespass. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Luzerne County District Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said he believes
they are the second and third people to ever face the misdemeanor intimidation
charge in Luzerne County. The younger suspect is charged as a juvenile. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The bottom line is this type of conduct is intolerable and unacceptable
and law enforcement is going to respond with any and all charges that are
appropriate," Olszewski said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The suspects allegedly made a 5-foot cross from a walking stick and fallen
tree limb. They covered the cross with toilet paper, sprayed it with ether and
lit it on fire at about 8:30 p.m. Oct. 30, on the edge of Bruce Bandish's
Loyalville Road property, police said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Bandish and his wife, Anna-Marie, are white. Her three children, Roy, Brian
and LaToya Tarboro, have a black father. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Krochta told his alleged accomplice they were targeting Brian Tarboro
because he is "an a--hole and, more important, a nigger," according to the
criminal complaint. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I don't think we could ever call this a prank. They knew a minority person
lived in that house and they intentionally took the cross there," said Luzerne
County Assistant District Attorney David Zekoski. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Additional details of the motive for the cross burning will come out in a
preliminary hearing and trial, Olszewski said. The Bandishes could not be
reached Friday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The suspects told people about the cross burning. Those people then
informed Lake Township police, Zekoski said. The juvenile confessed to the
crime in an interview with Chief John Masloski on Nov. 3, the affidavit
stated. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Ethnic intimidation is a third-degree misdemeanor filed against people who
commit a crime against another person based on "race, color, religion or
national origin," according to the Pennsylvania criminal code. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Victor Grisiatis, then 72, pleaded guilty to ethnic intimidation and other
charges in April 1995 after making threatening phone calls to a black family
and scrawling a racial epithet near their home. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Neither suspect in the cross burning has been arrested. They also could not
be reached for comment. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A summons ordering Krochta to appear in court for a preliminary hearing
will be mailed, Olszewski said. He could face 1 1/2 years in prison if
convicted of all charges. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

2 Charged In Burning Of Cross The Teenage Suspects Have Been Charged With Ethnic Intimidation In The Lake Twp. Incident