Luzerne County district attorney presents annual report

During his recent annual report, Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce highlighted persistent staffing challenges in his office and among law enforcement departments in general.

Consistent with the report he gave one year ago, Sanguedolce said his office continues to observe more experienced police officers retiring from service throughout the county, he told county council. With the institutional knowledge decreasing in local departments, county detectives are playing a larger role in a growing number and type of cases, he said.

“We’re doing our best to mentor the lesser experienced detectives in the local departments so they can handle increasingly complex investigations,” the DA said.

But the DA said he also is working to attract staff within his office to investigate and prosecute criminal cases.

His 2023 budget allocated approximately $4.67 million for wages and benefits, but he ended up spending $4.3 million due to vacancies in the office, he said.

There are currently 16 vacancies, including seven assistant district attorneys (six full-time and one part-time), two full-time opioid detectives, one part-time drug task force detective and two division chiefs, his report said.

As an example, Sanguedolce said one deputy district attorney left for employment with the attorney general.

His office is stepping up recruitment at the college level and considering reactivating paid internships, he said. He also is working with the union and county manager to discuss possible solutions.

Seven vacancies out of 28 positions — 25% — “is a real hindrance on getting cases prepared for trial,” he said, noting many peers across the state are encountering similar staffing issues along with public defender’s offices.

In 2023, the county DA’s Office prosecuted 4,179 cases in the county Court of Common Pleas.

This figure does not include cases that did not advance to the Court of Common Pleas level, he noted.

The DA’s Office prosecuted 53 jury and bench trials in 2023, which is down slightly from 61 in 2022.

He attributed this decrease “more to the shortage of assistant district attorneys than to a decrease in crime.”

“It is simply more difficult to get as many cases prepared and into trial with fewer lawyers,” his report said.

Children

As it did last year, his latest report presented bleak statistics on cases involving children.

Last year, 3,065 reports were made to ChildLine, compared to 2,434 in 2022, he said.

ChildLine is part of a mandated statewide child protective services program designed to accept child abuse referrals and general child well-being concerns and transmit the information to the appropriate investigating agency. Cases deemed potentially criminal are referred to the District Attorney in the county where they are believed to have occurred.

Sanguedolce said his office’s child predator division received 199 cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children last year, which is an increase from the prior year’s 167.

In pursuing those cases, his office executed 48 search warrants and completed 61 forensic examinations of computers, cell phones and other digital evidence.

The result: 31 arrests for child exploitation and the rescuing of nine children, he said.

His office also referred 528 children to the Child Advocacy Center last year because they disclosed some form of physical, mental or sexual abuse, compared to 473 referrals in 2022.

An independent organization solely reliant on donations and grants, the center allows young crime victims to undergo one videotaped forensic interview so they aren’t subjected to repeated, traumatizing inquiries about their abuse.

Of those referred, 432 children were determined to need medical examinations to ensure their well-being as a result of alleged abuse, the DA said.

Sanguedolce also provided an update on the office’s youth aid panel program, in which teams of citizen volunteers develop contracts with first-time, nonviolent juvenile offenders that may allow them an opportunity for a second chance so they don’t carry a criminal record.

Cases can be referred by police, school resource officers and magisterial district judges when they believe diversion is appropriate, he said.

Ten panels currently operate across the county, thanks to 45 volunteers, he said.

Sanguedolce said he is happy to report 63 cases were completed in 2023, allowing records of those juveniles to be expunged.

Most of the cases were related to marijuana or fighting in schools, he said.

The ages of the participants are evenly split between the ranges of 11 to 14 years old and 15 to 18 years old.

Other initiatives

Sanguedolce rattled off a lengthy list of grants and funding available to cover upcoming initiatives, including creation of an emergency services unit.

This unit would provide law enforcement resources that are typically available only through state police or federal entities, including teams specializing in accident reconstruction and cell phone/electronic data analysis, he said.

A central processing center also is under development to create one location for arrestees to be delivered, processed and taken to the prison. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) has approved the plan, and the DA’s office petitioned the court to add a $300 fee to each defendant so the center will be funded by “people in the system rather than the taxpayers-at-large,” his report said.

Grant funding also has allowed the office to concentrate more on crimes committed with firearms, Sanguedolce said. This goes beyond crimes involving actual shootings, he said. The office is seeing an increase in the production of ghost guns, which he described as “pretty frightening,” and more straw purchases in which someone legally authorized to buy firearms purchases them with the intent of transferring them to someone not permitted to have guns, he said.