Free Republic

WILKES-BARRE - A Pittston businessman accused of intimidating a Luzerne County corruption probe witness remains behind bars after a federal magistrate agreed to postpone his Monday bail hearing until Wednesday. Barton J. Weidlich, the first person jailed so far in connection with the corruption investigation, has been in federal custody since turning himself in Oct 1. Prosecutors charged him with threatening a witness to withhold information from a federal grand jury. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Weidlich, a well-connected construction, advertising, real estate and ice cream entrepreneur, appeared in court briefly Monday as his...

Barton J. Weidlich had access. The Pittston businessman, a confidant of former county manager/chief clerk Sam Guesto, used a special security clearance to gain employees-only access to the Luzerne County Courthouse, earned more than $100,000 in county business and worked the county tax-claim system to buy a dozen properties and turn a 4,900-percent profit on a home in Hazleton, according to county officials and records. All despite being a convicted felon. Weidlich, 40, spent four months in a New Jersey prison in 1996 after being convicted on a cocaine charge in Morris County, N.J., near Newark. Now he is back...