Second Superseding Indictment Filed Against Former Majority Lackawanna County Commissioners Robert C. Cordaro and Anthony J. Munchak
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 29, 2011 |
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that a federal grand jury sitting in Scranton has returned a 41-count second superseding indictment charging former Lackawanna County Majority Commissioners Robert C. Cordaro, age 50, of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, and Anthony J. Munchak, age 64, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, with racketeering and related charges in connection with alleged improper actions of the former majority commissioners in accepting payments and other benefits from individuals and entities doing business with Lackawanna County.
The original Indictment was filed on March 16, 2010. A previous superseding indictment was filed on October 4, 2010, after the Supreme Court decision in Skilling v. United States, U.S., 130 S. Ct. 2896 (2010) clarified the element of honest services mail fraud (Title 18 United States Code, Sections 1341 and 1346).
The second superseding indictment alleges that both defendants engaged in racketeering, fraud, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations and that they received hundreds of thousands of dollars of illegal payments and other benefits.
The second superceding indictment also seeks forfeiture of all proceeds of the charged criminal activity from both defendants.
Trial of this matter is currently scheduled to commence before the Honorable A. Richard Caputo on June 6, 2011.
Anyone with information concerning the case on alleged official corruption is asked to contact the fraud hotline at (855) 789-1868.
This Indictment is the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and criminal investigators of the Internal Revenue Service. Prosecution has been assigned to Assistant United States Attorneys Lorna N. Graham, William S. Houser and Bruce D. Brandler.
An indictment or information is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the grand jury and/or United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant has pled guilty to the charges.