Free Republic

WILKES-BARRE - The Luzerne County Sheriff's Office in recent years has sold about 20 guns, some to deputy sheriffs and one to former Sheriff Michael Savokinas, Solicitor Vito DeLuca said Monday. DeLuca said he has started an investigation of the gun sales in response to learning that Savokinas improperly agreed to sell a Thompson submachine gun, known as a Tommy gun, for $20,000 in August 2009. DeLuca said only county commissioners can approve sales of property, including firearms issued to the sheriff's office. Savokinas on Monday said administration officials knew the sheriff's office sold guns because a line item in...

Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said Friday she is "outraged" that former Sheriff Michael Savokinas agreed to sell a county firearm, an antique Thompson submachine gun, for $22,500 in August 2009. "I am just astounded at the audacity to just go out and sell taxpayer property without going through proper county procedures," Petrilla said. "I understand it could be worth up to $40,000. ... It looks like a back-door deal." The Model 1928 weapon, informally known as a Tommy gun, and another Thompson submachine gun were transferred from the county prison to the sheriff's department sometime in the 1980s,...

WILKES-BARRE - Luzerne Sheriff Michael A. Savokinas abruptly resigned Tuesday afternoon, ending a 20-month stint in office that often was plagued by controversy and clashes with other county officials. "At this time, my presence seems to be a distraction for my already over-worked staff," Savokinas wrote in a three-page resignation letter to Gov. Ed Rendell. Savokinas, 36, complained about a "witch hunt" and smear campaign "orchestrated by county officials" to drag his "reputation through the mud," and claimed drugs found in his vehicle "were planted as a possible political vendetta." Savokinas added he "can no longer do justice to my...

Federal agents have launched an investigation into the Luzerne County Sheriff's Department following a dispute over the handling of an internal probe into the discovery of drugs in a department vehicle, county officials said Monday. A sheriff's deputy tipped officials off to the drug discovery while complaining about the department's failure to file a formal report with the district attorney's office or police, Commissioner Maryanne Petrilla said. "(The) deputy came to the administration and said that this was discovered and not reported," Petrilla said. County officials confronted Sheriff Michael A. Savokinas, who claimed he had made a report to the...

Deputy’s vacation time not reported to payroll dept. called misunderstanding. WILKES-BARRE – Luzerne County Sheriff Michael Savokinas acknowledged Friday that vacation time recently taken by Chief Deputy Charles Guarnieri was not reported to the county’s payroll department but insisted it was a misunderstanding and there was no intent to defraud the county. Savokinas said Guarnieri was off for about two weeks. That information was recorded internally, he said, but it was not transmitted to the county payroll department because his payroll clerk apparently did not realize it was supposed to be noted. That resulted in Guarnieri being credited for working...