Charges filed against Luzerne County Councilman Stephen J. Urban

Luzerne County Councilman Stephen J. Urban has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault for allegedly attempting to cause bodily injury to a 12-year-old in Kingston, according to a criminal complaint released Monday.

Urban, of Kingston, also faces another misdemeanor charge of criminal solicitation to tamper with or fabricate physical evidence for allegedly soliciting someone to alter, destroy or conceal a record related to the pending investigation, it said.

Urban said Monday it would be inappropriate for him to comment on an active court matter.

According to the affidavit of probable cause:

On Aug. 25 shortly before 7 p.m., Kingston Police were dispatched to an address on North Sprague Avenue for a woman’s report that someone “pulled a shotgun” and chased her son and friends around with a baseball bat.

The woman said her 12-year-old son and his friends told her the man “across the street” pulled a gun on them and chased them with a bat, and she said they appeared to be scared.

The juveniles said they had been playing basketball and arguing with neighbors when a man — identified as Urban — came out with a shotgun and “racked it twice.” The man then went back to the house, got a baseball bat and chased them with it before eventually returning to his house.

Officers made contact with Kimberly Osterhout, who resides with Urban. She reported the juveniles called her son names, and they started to argue with the juveniles. Osterhout said no gun was shown at any point during the incident.

Officers then spoke with Urban. He reported the juveniles were harassing his family and that they were “out of control.” He was asked about having a shotgun and pulling it out on the juveniles, but he reported he did not show any guns to the kids playing basketball. Regarding the allegation of a bat, Urban said he came out of the house with a bat but only to his front porch.

“Urban stated that he never left the front porch of his property and stated that he never said anything to the kids. He said that the reason for taking the bat out was to protect his family and property.”

Officers located video cameras affixed to both Urban’s house and a residence across the street.

When asked about retrieving the video footage from Urban, he reported there was no footage of the incident stored because the camera only actively records from the evening to morning hours.

Police later made contact with a cooperating witness who owns the camera on the house across the street. The witness reported Urban left the porch and pursued the juveniles with a bat in his hand while the juveniles were playing basketball and that Urban specifically came close to the 12-year-old identified as “S.L.”

The witness said Urban came to the witness’s house after police left asking to speak to the witness’s spouse. Urban told the witness that he had an argument with the juveniles and chased them with a bat and that he was on council and did not need any trouble. The witness told investigators Urban asked the witness to have their spouse delete the video of the incident.

Investigators obtained a copy of the video footage from the witness’s house, which includes both audio and video.

The video depicted an exchange between five children playing basketball and three individuals. Urban then came off the porch wielding a baseball bat and raised the bat over his head into a swinging position as he entered the roadway and began to run after the 12-year-old, S.L.

S.L. began to run as Urban got closer and eventually was able to outrun Urban and escape. Urban stopped giving chase just before reaching the other side of the roadway, turned around and went back to his residence.

According to the affidavit, as the children were running away you could hear someone yell, “Who’s the pussy now?”

The video ends at 6:33 p.m.

Another witness video reviewed by police captures Urban’s visit to the witness’s house at 7:29 p.m.

He told the witness the juveniles are disrespectful and alleged they broke a $2,000 window.

After stating he is a county councilman, he said he is trying to help the neighbors and is going to get Children and Youth involved. He then told the witness, “You know I did chase them off the porch, so if your camera (inaudible) take it off that’s all I ask, nothing to see you know.”

Urban was interviewed at the police station along with Osterhout and another witness.

Urban said he moved to his current residence in September 2022 and that there have been numerous incidents and a lot of traffic at the neighboring North Sprague Avenue residence. He described the adults at the residence as “enablers” and stated the problems he has had are with the children who live and visit the address, including basketballs hitting his property and causing damage. He described an incident in which a window of his residence was smashed and that the glass also damaged his television.

Focusing on the Aug. 25 incident, Urban said Osterhout, her adult son and a social worker for her son were walking to the store, and the kids were making fun of them. When they returned from the store, the teasing continued.

Urban denied having a gun at the property and said two or three children were on the grass in front of the property calling him names, so he felt threatened.

“Stephen stated that he was holding the bat in an upright position, ran onto the sidewalk, stepped off of the curb just onto the roadway and then turned around and went back to his house,” it said.

Police indicated Urban had previously told the responding officers he never left his front porch.

“He agreed and stated that things happened so fast, the kids were agitating and he was scaring them off his property to prevent any more damage because he is afraid for his own life and his family,” it said.

Asked if he ever called police about the incident, Urban said he didn’t get a chance. He also said he has called in the past, but police don’t do anything.

Urban twice denied asking the witness about the video from the day he had the bat. He later admitted he did ask the witness if there was any video but said it was because he “wanted to make sure that everything that happened out in the street was recorded.” For the third time, he denied saying anything else about the video or telling anyone to get rid of it.

“Only after confronting him and making him believe that there was evidence contrary did he finally admit that he did ask the (witness) if they had a video and agreed that he told them to get rid of it,” the affidavit said.

Urban indicated what he did was “a little over the edge” and that he “did step across a line,” it said.

Police then advised him the children were not on his property before he chased them with the bat. He agreed they were not and stated, “I lost my cool that day. I did wrong.”

The Kingston Police Department filed the charges around 2 p.m. Friday, but they were not made public until Monday because they required a review and signature by Magisterial District Judge James J. Haggerty in Edwardsville.

The county District Attorney’s Office is referring the matter to the state Attorney General’s Office for prosecution to avoid any appearance of a conflict.

A preliminary hearing on the matter will be scheduled in Central Court.

Urban, a Republican, is among 12 candidates seeking six county council seats in the Nov. 7 general election in eight weeks.

An IT support coordinator for a major food distributor, Urban served on council from 2012 through 2015.

After two unsuccessful runs for county council in November 2015 and 2017, he won a seat in 2019 and is currently in the fourth year of that term.