NEWS IN BRIEF
Police: Woman beaten with hammer during robbery
Crestwood students cross in front of school buses at the start of the school day. Crestwood Superin-
tendent Dave McLaughlin-Smith said he returned a phone call from an FBI agent a week or two ago.
The agent was seeking information about the district’s transportation vender.
Feds inquire about transportation
vendors at five school districts
By Patrick Sweet
Staff Writer
Four more Luzerne County
school districts have reported
receiving calls from the FBI
seeking information on their
transportation providers.
Superintendents for the
Crestwood, Wilkes-Barre
Area, Wyoming Area and
Wyoming Valley West school
districtssaideachhasreceived
a phone call from the FBI
within the last month. This
comes after officials in the
Hazleton Area School District
said a similar request was
made there in early May.
“They wanted to know who
our (transportation) vendors
were,” Wyoming Valley West
Superintendent Chuck Sup-
pon said.
Wyoming Valley West,
which is currently taking bids
for transportation contracts,
uses T&M Transit Inc., run by
Michael and Theresa Hudak,
and Myers Bus Line, owned
by Phillip Myers.
T&M and Myers are located
in Plymouth and Kingston,
respectively. Attempts to reach
representatives for each com-
pany were unsuccessful
Wednesday.
Wilkes-Barre Superinten-
dent Jeffrey T. Namey said his
secretary answered the phone
and provided the FBI agent
with the information.
WB_VOICE - CVDAILY - 3 - 06/03/10
“Simply a phone call made,”
Namey said. “Obviously, they
are looking for something.”
Namey said he has no idea
why the FBI would be calling.
Crestwood Superintendent
Dave McLaughlin-Smith said
he returned a phone call from
an FBI agent a week or two
ago. The agent only asked who
provides transportation.
McLaughlin-Smith also had
no idea why the FBI called.
“I never try to project on
that kind of stuff,” McLaugh-
lin-Smith said.
Deets/Rinehimer Bus Lines
Inc. provides transportation
for Crestwood. Attempts to
reach Ed Deets, who owns the
Wapwallopen-based company,
were unsuccessful.
Wyoming Area District
Superintendent Raymond
Bernardi thought the call was
a joke because the caller only
spoke to his secretary and did
not ask to speak with an
administrator.
“I thought it was a prank,”
Bernardi said. “There is no
reason for anyone to ask that
question. It was very unusu-
al.”
The caller also asked Ber-
nardi’s secretary if the dis-
trict’s transportation provider,
Pittston-based Pace Transpor-
tation, owned or leased its
buses. A representative of
Pace Transportation would
not comment on the calls.
Special Agent J.J. Klaver,
public affairs and media rela-
tions coordinator for the FBI,
said the bureau would not
comment on whether it is con-
ducting an investigation.
The agency does not typi-
cally conduct investigations
over the phone, though,
Klaver said.
“We would send out agents
with credentials so people
would know who they are
speaking to,” Klaver said.
In early May, an FBI agent
requested a list of transporta-
tion vendors for the Hazleton
Area School District.
Hazleton Area’s transporta-
tion director turned the infor-
mation over to Superinten-
dent Sam Marolo, who held
onto it for about two weeks
while waiting for federal
agents to pick it up.
When no one came, Marolo
called an FBI office and was
given a fax number to which
to send the information, he
said. He did so on May 25 and
received confirmation that the
agency obtained the informa-
tion it sought.
“I had the number to con-
firm they got it,” Marolo said.
“The agent called me back
and thanked us for being
prompt. The only things they
asked were for names and
addresses. I haven’t heard
from them (since).”
Superintendents from other
WB_VOICE/PAGES [T03] | 06/02/10
MARK MORAN / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
Luzerne County school dis-
trict — Greater Nanticoke
Area, Hanover Area and
Pittston Area — said they had
not received calls.
School board members
from Wyoming Valley West
and Wilkes-Barre Area are
among the more than 30 peo-
ple charged in an ongoing fed-
eral corruption probe.
Former Wilkes-Barre Area
School Board president
James Height and former
member Brian Dunn pleaded
guilty to charges that Height
accepted $2,000 from a district
contractor and Dunn accept-
ed a payment to support the
hiring of a teacher.
Former Wilkes-Barre Area
School Board president Frank
Pizzella Jr. also pleaded guilty
in January to charges that he
helped solicit a deal between a
prospective teacher’s family
and Dunn’s wife.
Allen Bellas resigned from
his seat on the Wyoming Val-
ley West School Board. He
pleaded guilty in January to
charges that he accepted
$2,000 in cash to facilitate a
$1.1 million government loan
through his role as director of
the Luzerne County Redevel-
opment Authority.
SAM GALSKI, staff writer, contrib-
uted to this report.
psweet@citizensvoice.com
23:03 | SUPERIMPWB
Wilkes-Barre police are investigating a violent assault
and robbery that occurred during a home invasion Tuesday
afternoon at 228 Wyoming St., city police said.
Sonia Perez told police two unknown men entered her
home through an unlocked door around 4:15 p.m. and
attacked her.
She said she was knocked to the ground and bound with
duct tape.
She said she was choked and beaten with a hammer.
Perez said the suspects then took the $900 in cash she
had in her pocket, and fled the scene.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call
police at 570-826-8106.
— Bob Kalinowski
Vacant home destroyed by fire in Plymouth Twp.
Firefighters from three companies needed two hours to
stifle a fire that scorched a vacant home on High Street in
Plymouth Township, Chief Bill Evans said. The cause of the
fire was undetermined, he said.
The blaze started at 3:30 Wednesday morning, with
firefighters from Larksville, Plymouth and Edwardsville
responding. No injuries were reported.
Family finds man reported missing in Shickshinny
A 20-year-old man who was reported missing Tuesday
was located Wednesday afternoon by family members and
was safe, state police at Shickshinny said.
Police searched all of Wednesday for Nathan Blazick,
who was last seen Monday at 5:30 p.m. riding an all-terrain
vehicle on Range Road.
Authorities searched the wooded area on foot and
planned to also conduct an aerial search prior to Blazick
being located around 4:30 p.m.
Additional details about how Blazick was located were
not released.
— Bob Kalinowski
Ashland man killed in crash following chase identified
An Ashland man killed following a Tuesday night police
chase and crash involving a motorcycle and an SUV in
Mount Carmel Township has been identified.
Bernard J. Kawa Jr., 46, of 1707 Center St., Ashland,
was pronounced dead at the scene by Northumberland
County Coroner James Kelley at 10:04 p.m.
Kelley reported the cause of death was blunt force
trauma to the head and the manner of death was
accidental.
The crash happened on Route 54 in Mount Carmel
Township, but the incident began just outside of Ashland,
THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
where a borough police officer clocked Kawa traveling at
what police said was an unsafe speed.
— Rob Wheary
TODAY’S BEST BET
The Nanticoke Music Fest will begin tonight at Patriot Park,
Green and Broad streets in Nanticoke. This year’s festival
will feature rides, games, refreshments, a dunk tank and live
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010 – 3
music. The entertainment lineup includes “Ed Center Idol on
Tour” followed by “M80” on Thursday, “Tom Slick and the
Converted Thunderbolt Greaseslappers” and “The Original
Starfires with Eddie Day” on Friday, and “Flaxy Morgan” and
“Tyme Band” on Saturday.
CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS
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