First Posted: 10/3/2014
Lauren Harrington-Cooper’s husband opens up to British newspaper about Wyoming Valley West sex case
• The story of a former Wyoming Valley West High School English teacher serving prison time for sex with students has drawn the attention of a British tabloid newspaper.
The Daily Mail, in an online article published Thursday, quotes Lauren Harrington-Cooper’s husband, Raphael Cooper, as saying he intends to stand by his wife and rebuild their marriage after she is finished serving her 9-to-23-month prison sentence in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.
In the article, Cooper tells a Daily Mail reporter that some things that have been written about his wife are untrue, but acknowledges her guilty plea.
Alleged Vicodin theft from Back Mountain pharmacy in Luzerne County raises accountability questions
• Sheree Senausky allegedly stole hundreds of pills from the Back Mountain pharmacy over the course of several years where she worked.
Bloomsburg resident Paul Dougal, one of 13 people charged in a drug ring last week, told investigators he has been purchasing 400 Vicodin pills from Senausky per week for about five years.
Senausky, 29, a pharmacy technician at Cook’s Pharmacy in Shavertown, was charged on 10 counts of various illegal activity including delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
She admitted to investigators that she stole the prescription pain killer Vicodin and other controlled substances on a weekly basis from her employer.
A search of the home she owns on Staub Road in the Trucksville section of Kingston Township, turned up Vicodin tablets and other assorted prescription narcotics, firearms and money, including $250 from an undercover drug purchase of pills from her on July 16.
Judge: Luzerne County District Attorney’s office OK to prosecute Hugo Selenski
• Hugo Selenski, charged in the flex tie strangulation killings of two people, will face a capital murder trial.
His defense team tried to argue that a judge should disqualify the Luzerne County District Attorney’s office or disqualify First District Attorney Samuel Sanguedolce.
Selenski, 41, is accused of strangling Tammy Fassett and Michael Kerkowski in May 2002. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave outside a Kingston Township house where Selenski lived on June 5, 2003.
The judge denied a motion from defense attorney Bernard Brown to delay the trial until March, preserving the scheduled Nov. 12 start date.
Brown, appointed by the court to defend Selenski in April, argued he did not have enough time to fully review the more than 22,000 pages of documents related to the case.
Lifer who stabbed correctional officer sentenced
• A judge added more time to the life sentence Corliveetho McMillian is serving for murder.
Luzerne County Judge David Lupas sentenced McMillian, 49, to an additional five to 10 years for his conviction in July of stabbing a state correctional officer in the neck with a pen. A jury found McMillian guilty of aggravated assault for the attack on March 14 at the state Correctional Institution at Dallas in Jackson Township.
The injured officer was out of work for seven months, according to the arrest affidavit. Before the attack, McMillian was overheard during a telephone conversation saying that he was going to have to do something about the officer being moved back to the inmate’s cell block, the affidavit said.
‘Real Housewives’ star Teresa Giudice, husband get prison for fraud
• The married stars of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” are trading the drama of reality TV for prison.
Teresa Giudice was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Newark to 15 months in prison on conspiracy and bankruptcy charges while her husband, Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice, was sentenced to 41 months.
Together they must pay $414,000 in restitution.
The judge said Teresa will serve her sentence first so Joe can stay home with the couple’s four children.
Solar energy to light up Wilkes-Barre Township shopping center
• After successfully using solar energy at the Gateway Shopping Center, Joe Amato Properties is number crunching on the feasibility to install solar panels at the East End Centre, Wilkes-Barre Township.
Three years ago, the Gateway Shopping Center in Edwardsville made a groundbreaking move, becoming the first area shopping plaza to install solar panels to light all common areas such as parking lots, lights under canopies and an office space.
Harvys Lake man killed in motorcycle crash
• A Harveys Lake man was killed in a motorcycle crash Monday on McKendree Road.
State Police at Shickshinny said Geoffrey Engle, 36, was riding north on McKendree Road at about 4:15 p.m. when a deer ran into the roadway and struck the front of Engle’s motorcycle.
The impact caused Engle to lose control of the motorcycle and crash, police said.
Although a medical helicopter was flown to the crash scene for transport, Engle was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a 911 supervisor.
West Pittston fire displaces several people
• A structure fire displaced several people from their West Pittston homes and damaged a duplex late Monday night.
West Pittston Fire Chief John Hood said the fire started in the attic and spread to the second floor of the house at 212 Spring St.
The other half of the structure at 210 Spring St. also was affected, the chief said.
Three people were living on both sides of the duplex.
The owner of the property, Tommy McHugh, said accommodations were made for three college-age men who lived at 212 Spring St., while the residents at 210 found their own accommodations.
