Hazleton Police Chief: Shooting Death An Execution

A man shot and wounded during an argument amid a group of people at a vacant lot on Alter Street in Hazleton staggered up West Fourth Street in the rain before being shot in the head and killed late Thursday, city police Chief Frank DeAndrea said.

DeAndrea called the killing an execution.

He asks people who saw the incident to call police at 911 if they are in the Hazleton area or 570-459-4940.

Surveillance cameras show the argument occurring in a lot at 590 Alter St., and police circled a trail of bloodstains on the sidewalk and road along Fourth Street to where the victim was found just west of Emerald Court at 10:30 p.m.

Read more: http://standardspeaker.com/news/chief-shooting-death-an-execution-1.1896889

Heroin, Cash Seized, 3 People Arrested In Drug Investigations

HAZLETON, PA — Three people face drug charges and cash and drugs were seized in two separate investigations Thursday, police said.

In one of the cases, a woman trying to flee police struck an undercover vehicle, police said.

Police identified the woman as Passion Tairi Flores, 24, of West Birch Street.

According to police: A controlled drug buy with Flores was arranged near the intersection of North Locust and Third streets at approximately 5 p.m. As officers closed in on Flores, she accelerated her vehicle and tried to get away, striking an undercover vehicle and preventing her escape. Flores and her passenger, Anthony Morales Jr. 22 of Brooklyn, New York were arrested. Approximately $900 in cash and 220 packets of heroin were seized from her vehicle.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news-news/152497462/

Hazleton Council Overrides Mayor’s Veto, Passes 2015 Budget

During a special meeting Friday, Hazleton City Council voted to override Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi’s veto of the council’s proposed budget and then adopted that spending plan for 2015.

It means there will be no property tax increase for city residents and it also means that council voted to allocate money for the city to hire part-time police officers.

All this happened — but not without confusion, hand wringing and much discussion.

The confusion started when council had to call Councilman Jeff Cusat in order for him to vote on agenda items. Cusat had a prior engagement and did not attend the meeting in person but did cast his votes via telephone.

Read more: http://standardspeaker.com/news/hazleton-council-overrides-mayor-s-veto-passes-2015-budget-1.1815211

Veto Sets Up Hazleton Budget Showdown

Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi vetoed a nearly $9.3 million budget for 2015 that was ratified by city council about a week ago.

Yannuzzi announced the development in memorandums to city council on Monday and will for a second consecutive year set up a budget showdown with the governing body. A dispute over competing versions of the 2014 budget went before a judge and has not yet been resolved.

The mayor said he vetoed an ordinance that sets the tax rate and related legislation because they do not conform with the version of the budget that he presented.

Yannuzzi listed 12 reasons in a second memorandum for vetoing a fourth budget-related ordinance and argues that amendments made by council leave the city with an unbalanced budget.

Read more: http://standardspeaker.com/news/veto-sets-up-hazleton-budget-showdown-1.1812842

Hazleton Council OKs $9.28M Spending Plan

Property taxes will not increase in Hazleton in 2015, according to a tentative $9.28 million spending plan that city council approved Wednesday.

But it will cost more to sell a property.

Council approved on second reading a balanced, $9.28 million budget that eliminates a tax increase that the mayor wanted to implement for awarding raises to a handful of nonunion employees. The budget also scraps a controversial maintenance fee for the stormwater system.

The spending plan approved Wednesday makes up for that lost tax and stormwater revenue by infusing $400,000 from a defunct sewage transmission fee account into other parts of the general fund budget. The city’s share of the real estate transfer tax was also increased by 0.5 percent — to 1 percent — and boosts revenue projections by $150,000.

Read more: http://standardspeaker.com/news/hazleton-council-oks-9-28m-spending-plan-1.1804580

$9.3 Million Hazleton Budget Breakdown

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A $9.3 million budget proposal prepared by administrators in Hazleton for the upcoming year was developed to more accurately reflect costs incurred in 2013 rather than keep pace with competing budgets submitted this year by the mayor and council, a top city administrator said.

Acting City Administrator Tom Pribula said he looked beyond a year-long budget dispute between the mayor and council and instead focused on 2013 actual expenses when developing a budget for 2015.

“I would say it’s a pretty reasonable budget,” Pribula said of the 2015 proposal. “I would not categorize any fluff, per se, that’s in it. My philosophy from doing budgets for 30-some years is be realistic to the conservative side on your revenues. You don’t want to over-estimate because if you don’t get them, then you don’t have the cash.”

While examining budget trends from previous years, Pribula found that some line item reductions that council and the mayor presented in competing budgets for 2014 weren’t in line with actual expenditures.

Read more: http://standardspeaker.com/news/9-3-million-hazleton-budget-breakdown-1.1785654

Hazleton Looks At Tax Increase To Pay For Added Police

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HAZLETON, PA — City Council unanimously approved a referendum on Monday night that would ask city voters if they would support an increased police presence on city streets at a cost of a 1-mill tax increase for property owners.

A mill is $1 dollar in tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. For example, a 1-mill increase on a property valued at $100,000 would mean a $100 tax increase for the property owner.

Council member Jean Mope said although she fully supported the hiring of additional police officers, she believed officials should investigate funding sources beyond taxpayers’ pockets.

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/50375881/Hazleton-looks-at-tax-increase-to-pay-for-added-police

Crime Spree Starts In Hazleton, Ends In New York City

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HAZLETON, PA — A 125-mile crime spree Friday morning that started in Hazleton and ended in New York City involved the kidnapping of one woman, the attempted kidnapping of another and a dramatic ending when a stolen Cadillac Escalade crashed on the George Washington Bridge, police said.

Authorities said a 33-year-old man from New York allegedly kidnapped a woman by force from her residence on North Church Street Friday morning and was captured hours later after the bridge crash.

At a news conference, Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea identified the suspect as Luis Figueroa. Court records list Figueroa’s address as Walter Avenue, Bronx, New York.

According to DeAndrea, Hazleton police responded to 149 N. Church St. at about 8:30 a.m. after a man armed with a shotgun attempted to abduct a pregnant woman. One of the women in the house had a protection-from-abuse order against Figueroa, the chief said.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news-news/1448833/Crime-spree-starts-in-Hazleton-ends-in-New-York-City

Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Street Crimes Unit Nets Over 100 Arrests In Hazleton

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HAZLETON, PA — The state’s top cop came to Hazleton on Wednesday to trumpet the success of her Mobile Street Crimes Unit, which has netted more than 100 arrests and seized more than 35,000 packets of heroin in southern Luzerne County over the past five months.

Just in the last three days, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane said, agents made more than 40 arrests and seized 9,060 packets of heroin as part of Operation Rising Star — a moniker chosen by Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea.

Kane said Hazleton has been “a breeding ground” for the distribution of heroin, with interstates 80 and 81 nearby as a convenient pipeline to New York City and northern New Jersey suppliers.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/1205689/Crimes-unit-nets-over-100-arrests-in-Hazleton-area

Hazleton Man Charged In Fatal Shooting Outside Bar

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HAZLETON, PA — Police charged Terrence Clarke in a fatal shooting early Sunday morning witnessed by state troopers who later captured him after a foot chase.

The victim, Garey S. Cox, 45, of East Eighth Street, Hazleton, later died at Lehigh Valley Hospital Cedar Crest in Allentown.

Clarke, 26, of North Locust Street, Hazleton, wounded another man in the shooting the occurred around 2:10 a.m. outside Shaker’s Bar at 711 W. Diamond Ave., police said. The injured man was hospitalized, police said. His name and condition were not available.

Read more:  http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/1168061/Hazleton-man-charged-in-fatal-shooting-outside-bar

One Man Shot, Another Assaulted In West Hazleton

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WEST HAZLETON, PA — One man was shot and another assaulted early Monday morning at a home on East Broad Street.

Borough police were dispatched to the 200 block of East Broad Street for multiple reports of shots fired just before 12:30 a.m. and found Joshua L. Crutch, 20, of West Hazleton, on the second floor of 227 E. Broad St. with a gunshot wound to his leg.

Police also found Leshawn Williams, 21, of West Hazleton, in the residence.  Williams had suffered lacerations and contusions to his face, police said.

Crutch was transported to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.  Williams was taken to Hazleton General Hospital for evaluation and was treated and released, according to police Chief Brian Buglio.

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/818653/One-man-shot-another-assaulted-in-West-Hazleton

Man Arrested in Hazleton Stabbing

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A 23-year-old Hazleton man is accused of stabbing another man outside a city bar early Monday morning.

Arrest papers state Jonathan A. Vasquez-Liriano tried entering the King’s Lounge, 511 W. Broad St., with a knife that night but a security worker removed it from him as he entered the business.

When the bar was closing for the night, Vasquez-Liriano asked for the weapon back and a security worker gave it to him.  Almost immediately after, court papers state, the security worker saw police arrest Vasquez-Liriano outside the business.

Read more:  http://standardspeaker.com/news/man-arrested-in-city-stabbing-1.1527565

Luzerne County 911: No Calls Missed

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A thorough review Monday of Luzerne County 911’s computerized database refutes a claim made by Hazleton’s police chief that callers could not get through last week to report a man was shot, the interim 911 director said.

The database logs all calls made to the center — including those not picked up by a phone operator — and there were no missed calls in the half-hour period before the July 5 shooting, interim 911 Executive Director Fred Rosencrans said.

On Friday, Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea blasted the county emergency dispatch agency, saying the victim remained bleeding on the street after the 1:40 a.m. shooting because people at the scene couldn’t get an answer at 911 until 2 a.m.

“I am saying with certainty it didn’t happen the way it was portrayed,” Rosencrans said.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/659924/County-911:-No-calls-missed

Hazleton Police Chief: 911 Response To Shooting Victim Calls Unacceptable

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another of the “bigger concerns” police have is with Luzerne County 911, DeAndrea said.

“Apparently it took over 25 minutes for 911 to answer the phone,” he said.  “There’s a high call volume because it (was) the Fourth of July.  However, there’s a man lying shot, bleeding, on the streets of the city of Hazleton and (911) can’t get the phone answered to dispatch a car.

“So here’s the Hazleton Police Department excited with a 3-minute response, thinking maybe we’re going to catch the shooter with a smoking gun, and it ends up we’re a half hour after the fact,” DeAndrea said.  “That just doesn’t make any sense.”

By talking with the family who lives in the home in front of which the shooting occurred, DeAndrea said, he was trying to pin down how many people called 911.  “The family was actually trying to flag vehicles down in the middle of Diamond Avenue to try and send someone for help,” DeAndrea said.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/654857/Chief:-911-response-to-shooting-victim-calls-unacceptable

UPDATE: Hazleton Police ID Suspect In Friday’s Shooting

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HAZLETON — City police have identified a suspect in the shooting of a 29-year-old man early Friday morning on West Diamond Avenue.

The Hazleton Police Detective Division has applied for an arrest warrant for Juan Carlos Paulino, 26, of 635 N. James St., Apartment 2, Hazleton, police said in a press release.

Police allege that Paulino shot a man, whose name they would not release, multiple times in the chest and abdomen in the 600 block of West Diamond Avenue at about 1:40 Friday morning.

Read more:

http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/654017/UPDATE:-Hazleton-police-ID-suspect-in-this-mornings-shooting

Hazleton ‘Tweaks’ Noise Ordinance

With Hazleton police responding to at least three noise-related calls per shift, Chief Frank DeAndrea said he welcomes council’s efforts to assist his department in stamping out disturbances that create “a huge quality of life concern” for the community.

An updated noise ordinance city council ratified earlier this week will give the police department a means to deal with problems that accompany noise-related issues that stem from a changing society, DeAndrea said.

Council approved final readings of an updated noise ordinance that was written by Councilman Kevin Schadder.  The eight-page law establishes fines of between $100 and $1,000 for people who are found guilty before a district justice of violating any one of a number of noise- or sound-violations that range from barking dogs and “unnecessary horn blowing” to loud music and construction equipment.

“Sometimes it seems like things need to be tweaked as society changes to be better able to enforce what maybe five years ago wasn’t an issue,” DeAndrea said.  “If the changes, or tweaks, in this ordinance give the police department a little bit different angle to approach noise with, I’m all for it.”

Read more:  http://standardspeaker.com/news/hazleton-tweaks-noise-ordinance-1.1480168

Hazleton Police Chief Warns Business Owners To Get Their Licenses

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Kickin’ ass and takin’ names in Hazleton!  Booya!

Police Chief Frank DeAndrea is giving a warning out to businesses operating in Hazleton to have their licenses and make sure that they are in conformity to the city’s codes.

The Hazleton Police Department is going to work in unison with the city’s fire, health, code enforcement, and highway departments in a new city-wide initiative called “Operation Clean Street.”

Set to begin in a week or two, the initiative will pull all of the departments’ resources in an effort to beautify the city’s streets and crack down on delinquent businesses.

According to DeAndrea, the operation will begin at the intersection of Diamond Avenue and Wyoming Street in which the fire department will bring a truck in to hose down and wash all debris from the streets and sidewalks.

Read more:  http://standardspeaker.com/news/hazleton-police-chief-warns-business-owners-to-get-their-licenses-1.1469241

‘Drug Houses’ Seized Under Hazleton Plan

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Now that clearly sends a message that drug dealers aren’t welcome in Hazleton!

HAZLETON, PA — In addition to potentially losing her freedom, a woman arrested in a drug raid Friday also could lose her home under a new initiative of the Hazleton Police Department.

After police served a search warrant at 134 Pine Tree Road and arrested the three people inside, a city official posted a dark red sign in the front door window with the word “CONDEMNED.”

“The new idea actually has been on the books for quite some time — using the city’s nuisance property ordinance” to clean up neighborhoods, Police Chief Frank DeAndrea said at a press conference at City Hall Friday afternoon.  “And since the mayor has put code enforcement and the health department under the supervision of the police department, I thought we would attempt to take a new approach.”

When advised Thursday of the operation planned for Friday by his narcotics unit lieutenant, DeAndrea called Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis and requested her view on the city condemning the Pine Tree Road house “because it’s unsafe for human cohabitation, it’s a danger to the community,” DeAndrea said.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/394624/Drug-houses-seized-under-Hazleton-plan

Hazleton Scoured After Police Car Window Shot Out

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HAZLETON – Scores of police officers scoured a neighborhood in the Alter Street business district with guns drawn Wednesday morning after the rear window of an unmarked police vehicle “exploded” when it was shot with something while a Hazleton detective sat inside.

City Police Chief Frank DeAndrea said the unnamed detective was not hurt.

He said the unmarked vehicle was parked at Fourth and Alter streets about 11:45 a.m. when the window “exploded as if shot out,” blowing “90 percent” of the glass inside the vehicle.

“It was shot with something. I’m just not sure what caliber, if it was a BB from a passing motorist,” Chief DeAndrea said.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/hazleton-scoured-after-police-car-window-shot-out-1.1451125