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Former Luzerne County commissioner Greg Skrepenak reported to a federal prison in West Virginia on Thursday to begin serving a two-year sentence. A Bureau of Prisons spokesman said Skrepenak is an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at Beckley. Skrepenak, 40, of Jenkins Township, was charged with accepting a $5,000 kickback from an area real estate developer in return for supporting the developer’s acceptance into a program that delays payment of real estate taxes to allow the money to pay for infrastructure. The former National Football League lineman and standout at the University of Michigan pleaded guilty to a felony...

UPDATED 2:40 Former Luzerne County commissioner Greg Skrepenak said he was surprised a federal judge sentenced him to 24 months in prison. "I'm not too happy about the sentence. I think it's pretty severe. But it's what the judge thought. It's what the people wanted. I can accept that, God willing, and will move on," Skrepenak said, speaking outside the federal courthouse in Scranton. Skrepenak said the care of his children is his main concern because some of his family members are getting older with health ailments. He said he is considering appealing the sentence. If not, he said he...

SCRANTON - Former Luzerne County Commissioner and single father Greg Skrepenak's "unparalleled devotion" to his three minor children should win him a reduced sentence on the corruption charge that drove him from office, his attorney argued in a motion filed Tuesday. Skrepenak, 40, faces a likely prison sentence of 33 to 41 months under federal sentencing guidelines when he appears before U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy on Friday. But the defense motion argues Skrepenak's status as a single father of three children aged 11, 13 and 15 warrants a lesser sentence. Skrepenak's ex-wife, Carrie, suffers from severe drug addiction...

Former Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak pleaded guilty today in federal court to accepting multiple payoffs from a developer who obtained a government-subsidized loan through a county authority. Skrepenak, 39, pleaded guilty to accepting $5,000 for voting to approve the $1.1 million loan, which The Citizens’ Voice has tied to the Insignia Point Courtyards project in Jenkins Township. Insignia Point Courtyard was developed by Anthony J. Trombetta, the president of Intellacom Inc., a technology company whose dealings with two local school districts, a career and technical center, and the county’s community college are under scrutiny from federal investigators. Skrepenak, the...

Former Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak said Thursday the "legal issues" that drove him to resign from office and sign a plea agreement with federal prosecutors stemmed from a clash between longtime cultural practices in county politics and the higher standards of public office and the law. In an interview at his Jenkins Twp. condo, cluttered with boxes of ornaments and unwrapped gifts, the former NFL lineman said the ongoing federal investigation that has shaken the courthouse means the end of the pay-to-play atmosphere that has pervaded political life in the county. "There's just a fine line of what you...