Shredder

Local blogger Joe Valenti of Pittston Politics has had some adventures lately. A few weeks ago he made a request under the open records law for some documents from the Wyoming Area School Board and recently learned that the documents he requested had been shredded. I'm surprised that the local newspaper reporters haven't picked up on this yet because they do read the blogs.

Joe has also been subpoenaed in a case involving the Pittston Area School Board and he made a great video in response to that and the Wyoming Area open records officer. He is now digging in the dumpsters of all the Pittston and Wyoming area schools. Good luck.

Skrep gets 2 years

Skrepenak sentenced to 24 months in prison, fine

Shock, tears and a vow to survive

Former Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak showed up in court yesterday to receive his sentence for being a crook clutching a bible. The last few days his lawyer has thrown out all sorts of weak excuses why he shouldn't go to jail.

Go Easy On Me, Judge. I’m Really Likeable, And My Knees Hurt

Judge Richard Conaboy didn't buy any of it and gave him the longest sentence to date in Corruption Junction.

The reaction from his fellow Bond Brother Todd Vonderheid:

“I have no comment.”


The $70,000+ worth of bribes to Skrep must have played a part of the reckless spending and borrowing spree that Skrepenak and Vonderheid went on after they were elected after they helped shoot down the last Home Rule proposal. Trust us, they said.

That worked out well.

Why rent when you could buy

County opts to buy, not lease, 911 tower

Luzerne County officials plan to buy land in Fairview Township for a new 911 communications tower, which will end the county’s need to lease a tower on privately owned land nearby...Commissioners are set to vote Thursday to buy about 6 acres on the Penobscot Mountain from James and Amy Schall for $215,000. The purchase price was established as fair market value by a certified appraiser, county officials said.

The land must be subdivided to delineate the portion being purchased by the county.

The county currently pays about $500 per month plus utilities to lease another tower on Penobscot Mountain.

A friend sent along some concerns about the deal:

Today's TL announces the county has decided to purchase property for its 911 tower. It had been leasing the property for $500/month and is now going to buy it for $215000.

The property is part of a 120 acre parcel purchased in 1996 for $10 by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, which at the time declared a tax value of $223,000. It was most recently mortgaged for a little over $250000. So the county is buying 6 of these 120 acres for nearly the 2009 mortgage value.

There is also something shady about the ownership. The TL says that it is owned by James & Amy Schall, but the mortgage was granted by "Mission Broadcasting, Inc."

In 1994, the Schalls (d/b/a Penobscot Antenna Rental) were granted a 45 year antennae easement from Diversified Communications (Bill Christian VP/Gen'l Mgr) at $500 a month after the first 25 years. I couldn't find a deed to the Shcalls online.

So the County decides it makes sense to pay what amounts to 35 years of lease payments (without even considering discounting to present value, which would likely so reduce the value of the future lease payments as to make this purchase equal to 100 years of leasing.



FBI expands probe to Luzerne County 911 center

Bob Reilly admits he is a liar

Reilly pleads guilty to lying charge

Reilly says he’s guilty of telling lie

But he still denies he broke any laws.

Reilly was originally charged in April with soliciting bribes from Pittston contractor Barton J. Weidlich, who was paid more than $53,000 for 19 no-bid county government construction jobs between July 2006 and December 2008. Most of the work was connected to a records-retention initiative headed by Reilly that remains under federal investigation.

Reilly faced up to 10 years in prison on that charge. But following months of plea negotiations, federal prosecutors replaced the soliciting charge with one of lying to federal agents and Reilly agreed to plead guilty in June.

Weidlich pleaded guilty Wednesday to threatening a grand jury witness in the case. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Weidlich and Reilly are among more than 30 people charged in an ongoing federal probe of public corruption.

Pizzella sentenced to a Time Out

Another house arrest for an admitted criminal. I hate to bash a judge because you never know when you might end up in front of one but this sentence is ridiculous.

CV: U.S. District Judge James M. Munley ordered Pizzella to serve two years of probation, including five months on house arrest, after a federal prosecutor detailed Pizzella's cooperation in at least seven different investigations. Pizzella must also pay a $10,000 fine.

Pizzella has been singing to the FBI ratting out fellow Wilkes-Barre Area School Board members Brian Dunn and James Height and has provided information about the carpet guy plus the overcharging by Intellecom. The TL story says he was feeding the FBI information about Luzerne County Judges when he was Ann Lokuta's tipstaff.

His attorney conceded Pizzella “can in some respects annoy people” by being brusque. That is an understatement. Judge Munley cited Pizzella's cooperation and "spotless reputation" in deciding not to send him to jail.

Spotless reputation? Are we talking about the same person?


Pizzella, a former Plains Township police officer and township commissioner, has been accused of spousal abuse, punching his father and threatening to kill his daughter. In 1980, police accused Pizzella and a friend of hiring a hitman to break the legs of a political rival.


Pizzella also claims he is in poor health. It seems to be a problem with all the people who have snared in probe here in Corruption Junction. Judge Toole also claims he has a bad back, it must be contageous.


Judge Munley said: “We condemn the conduct. What he was engaged in is outrageous. It’s a throwback” to days when public officials routinely behaved that way, “and it will not be tolerated any more.”

If you don't put people in jail what is the deterrent Judge Munley?

On background I have been told that Frankie Kneecaps will not be allowed to watch Nickelodeon or The Disney Channel while he spends the next 5 months sitting on his duff. As an additional punishment he won't get a graham cracker after recess or a chocolate milk.

Poor Skrep

I think the life story of Greg Skrepenak would make a great TV movie. Local boy with athletic talent goes off to a Big 10 school and excels at football then has success in the NFL making big bucks. After his 5 year professional football career he returns home wanting to do good establishing a foundation to spread around his wealth to worthy causes. Then he got involved in local politics and the All-American Boy becomes an admitted criminal who is now apparently broke. This is a tragedy that Shakespeare could have written.

Liz Sichler busted

Until she resigned as the the Vice-Chair of the Luzerne County Republican Party in 2008 Sichler was best known for her hard nosed approach to politics with a particular talent for challenging the nominating petitions of candidates that she opposed.

According to the TL story she was running a Bernie Madoff type ponzi scheme until it unravelled and is now accused of embezzling $2 million from her title search company and the people who trusted her to do the paperwork to buy a new home.

She was a top operative of State Representative Karen Boback before all of this and succeeded in getting James May kicked off the the ballot in 2006. In 2008 she was one of the leaders of the Boback campaign that turned back May's primary challenge then quit politics a few days after the primary after the news broke that the Secret Service was investigating her activities.

Liz was a big contributor to various Republican candidates before she ran out of other peoples money to throw around. She tossed $825 to Karen Boback before the 2008 election and in the 2008 federal elections she dropped 8 grand to her favs including $4600 for Lou Barletta and $3200 to Dan Meusers losing effort.

Note: I'm back

Weekend update

I skipped blogging this weekend to do other things. But that doesn't mean that I don't have a few things on my mind.

I got a Happy Memorial Day message from Pat Toomey and other politicians today. I'm happy that I got a day off from work so I could grill burgers and dogs but I don't think that is the purpose of the holiday. Remembering our war dead is solemn thing and I have to agree with Another Monkey that the best way to honor them is to stop adding to the list.

The latest news from Corruption Junction is that Clerk of Courts Bob Reilly has resigned. He is working on his plea agreement as is Pat Patte. Those two have been around forever.

The really big news was on Saturday night when Roy Halladay threw a perfect game for the Philladelphia Phillies. It was only the 20th time in history that 27 batters came to the plate and they all made an out.The way the Phillies are hitting right now every pitcher has to throw a perfect game.

More to come.

Thom Greco

30 and counting.

Thom Greco is famous for opening food and beverage businesses in Wilkes-Barre with much fanfare only to see the ventures fail shortly afterward. There have been so many I'm not even going to try to list them all.

His latest project is a pizza place at the site of the former Grogg Shop on the corner of N. Main and Union Streets that recently was Gage Restaurant. In the past it was Hacienda Restaurant, Heartbreaks, Harrigan's Irish Pub, Bazookas, Martini Ristorante and Bar, Aprilia's Restaurant and Nono's Restaurant and Bar.

He is presently operating Oysters in the Genetti Hotel and The Mines. Greco also owns residential and commercial rental properties and has been talking about building a fiber optic network using the steam heat pipes for years but that hasn't gone anywhere.

Now he has been snared in the Corruption Junction investigation signing another one of those very vaguely worded plea agreements.

TL: Court documents filed in federal court Thursday said Greco failed to report to authorities his knowledge that an elected official had solicited and accepted a gratuity in exchange for official action. ...Greco, 53, of Wilkes-Barre, had this information between April 2005 and December 2009, court papers say. The court papers do not identify the public official or provide any further details regarding the crime.


Disclosure: I actually worked for him for a short time at the Station nightclub and hotel complex that is now one of the biggest eyesores in Wilkes-Barre. I took the first job offer that came along to get out of that gig. But he came out of that alright when the Luzerne County Commissioners (Skrep, Vondy and Urban) bought that pile of junk but now don't have the money to clean it up. He was partners with the Kornfeld family of The Woodlands fame in that venture. When it went sour he sued them and actually had their cars seized and towed to settle his claims. Guess who towed the cars?

Corruption Junction

A few months ago Capitol Ideas referred to Northeatern Pennsylvania region as "insanity with borders" when talking about all the scandals that have surfaced. Hard to argue with that but it's not exactly a catchy phrase.

I came up with the Juvie Brothers to describe the evil that Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella engaged in but the papers settled on "cash for kids." I can't argue with that, at least the scandal hasn't been tagged as some sort of -gate, such as bonusgate. That is just lazy.

So I propose that the ongoing corruption investigation outside of the Juvienile probe in Luzerne/Lackawanna counties be dubbed Corruption Junction.

If you can up with something better you will win a Gort42 hat.

PA only number 8 ????

I can't say that I agree with this but it is state rankings not by county. Those of us that live here in Corruption Junction (Luzerne County) know better.


Website ranks Pennsylvania among top 10 corrupt states

The Daily Beast is using old data from just Philadelphia and doesn't take into account our own Juvie Brothers and the rest of the cast of characters of school board directors and municipal officials not to mention the Bonusgate corruption in Harrisburg.

I will have to slip an envelope to Sights on Pennsylvania for pointing out this story. I'll stuff it with 10% of my ad revenue.