Carbondale Pennsylvania Criminal Defense Law Blog

Police are searching for a Lackawanna County man who is believed to have committed several acts of home improvement fraud. The suspect appears to have been part owner of a home construction firm several years ago, but police believe that he has recently been using fraudulent home improvement contracts to steal money from homeowners who thought they were hiring the man to perform various repairs.

A woman in Lower Saucon Township described her interactions with the man to police. She said that the man spoke to her about re-siding her home in March 2018. The woman paid the man $6,000 when the contract was signed, and she agreed to pay an additional $5,000 when the work was completed. Several months passed with no work being commenced, and the woman notified the police.

Working with the state government can be lucrative business for all different types of industries. When roads need to be built, the government will ordinarily have to hire a construction firm. Even in the office environment, governments will often rely on outside professionals to do important public work.

Because the business is so competitive, public officials who are in charge of handing out these contracts may find themselves being accused of cutting corners in order to favor the business of a family member, friend or a big political contributor.

Many lawyers rely on their secretaries to handle accounting duties, including depositing receipts and paying bills. Secretaries in this position have frequent opportunities for self-enrichment, but most resist the temptation and follow the highest ethical standards. The recent arrest of a secretary who works for a Scranton attorney shows what happens when the ethical restraints are ignored.

In 2017, the lawyer discovered that his secretary had been allegedly stealing money since 2015. He confronted her with the suspected theft of $148,000, and she agreed to make restitution. For this reason, the lawyer did not report her to the police or fire her. Unfortunately, the woman allegedly continued to forge firm checks payable to herself. The checks were drawn on both the firm's general account and trust account.

Women are charged with sex crimes far less frequently than men. Not surprisingly, when a woman is alleged to have committed such crimes, the circumstances can be highly unusual. Two recent arrests in Lackawanna County go a long way to proving the point.

Police announced that they arrested a 58-year-old woman and her 28-year-old son on a number of charges concerning sexual abuse of young girls. The alleged crimes first came to light when a seven-year-old girl, who is one of the alleged victims, told a social worker about the alleged sex crimes while she was being treated in the emergency room at a Scranton hospital. The worker immediately contacted the ChildLine abuse hotline, and a criminal investigation was launched shortly thereafter.