Blotter
Trooper, police officer bitten by dogs during standoff arrest
ROSS TWP. Two dogs allegedly released by Robert Gerald Ball during a standoff with state police at Shickshinny and Lehman Township police bit a trooper and a police officer Thursday.
Hanover Township ‘prowler’ charged with damaging police property
HANOVER TWP. A Kingston man taken into custody after allegedly prowling outside a house ringing the doorbell damaged a desk and a door inside township police headquarters Thursday night.
Three men deemed sexually violent predators, get state prison time
WILKES-BARRE Paula Brust from the state s Sexual Offender Assessment Board had a busy day along with Luzerne County assistant district attorneys Shana Messinger and Carly Hislop.
Edwardsville man, former youth sports coach, sentenced 8-16 years on child sex offenses
WILKES-BARRE A former youth sports coach said he knew he had a problem in 1999 with having sexual urges toward children and wished he got caught sooner.
Renewed efforts to identify Baby Boy John Doe
HANOVER TWP. Below a tall tombstone dedicated to the deaths of unborn children in Saint John s Slovak Cemetery in Courtdale, Baby Boy John Doe was re-interred shortly after an exhumation to retrieve
ID protection sought for inmates, parolees in prison homicide case
WILKES-BARRE Luzerne County prosecutors are seeking a protective order to limit the release of names of inmates and parolees as they exchange evidence with attorneys defending a state prison inmate
Judge files opinion in Hanover Township fatal shooting
WILKES-BARRE Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. filed an opinion to his reasons why he denied a request by Tremaine Jamison to withdraw a guilty plea to third-degree murder.
Duryea police charge man, 23, with sexually assaulting teen girl
DURYEA A Gouldsboro man was arraigned Wednesday on allegations he sexually assaulted a teenage girl and gave her marijuana and liquor last year.
Mississippi man, 22, caught with teen girl at Sugarloaf Township hotel
SUGARLOAF TWP. Township police arrested a man from Mississippi when he was caught with a 14-year-old girl at a hotel Tuesday night.
Sentencing continued for Pittston man on child corruption charges
WILKES-BARRE A Pittston man deemed a lifetime sexual offender in Lackawanna County Court where he was sentenced to state prison in 2019 could benefit with a lesser sentence on child corruption charg
Duryea police: Crack cocaine found in two vehicles driven by Pittston man
DURYEA Police say they found crack cocaine and an unbelted child inside a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by an impaired Robert Johenkins on Dec. 17, according to court records.
Store manager charged with theft
EDWARDSVILLE Borough police charged a Plymouth woman with stealing nearly $10,000 from daily deposits while she worked as a store manager at the West Side Mall Dollar General store.
Who was James Paul Forte? Suspected killer left few clues
State police at Hazleton released information of what they know about James Paul Forte, whom they publicly named Thursday as the assailant in the 1964 kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Marise Ann Ch
Attorney renews request to exclude evidence in Wilkes-Barre Township homicide case
WILKES-BARRE An attorney for homicide suspect Anthony Shaw, charged with fatally stabbing Cindy Lou Ashton in 2018, has renewed his efforts to exclude alleged evidence obtained during the investigat
Evicted woman accused of shutting off electric and furnace pleads guilty to defiant trespass
WILKES-BARRE Prosecutors withdrew a reckless endangerment charge and amended a trespass charge against a woman accused by Nanticoke police of turning off electrical service and furnace to an apartme
Attorney seeks individual questioning of jurors for homicide trial
WILKES-BARRE An attorney for homicide suspect Erik Michael Watkins has requested individual questioning of each juror to empanel a jury for trial.
Hunlock Township man charged with sharing self-nude images with teen girl
HUNLOCK TWP. Luzerne County detectives charged a Hunlock Township man with sharing sexually explicit materials with a teen girl.
State police name suspect in 1964 kidnapping, murder of Hazleton girl, 9
HAZLE TWP. Not yet old enough to buy a beer, Eric Schubert was praised for his efforts as a genealogist in helping state police investigators at Hazleton identify the suspect in the 1964 kidnapping
Man wounded by gunfire outside Chacko’s faces charges
WILKES-BARRE A man who suffered gunshot wounds in the parking lot of Chacko s Family Bowling Center last week is now facing charges after police say he opened fire following an altercation.
HIV-positive inmate sentenced for spitting on corrections officers
WILKES-BARRE A Scranton man diagnosed with a communicable disease was sentenced for spitting on two corrections officers.