News

June 27, 2008

Bail reset, robbery suspect stays in jail

Hanover Township man has been arrested twice since his release on bail June 2.

By Ed Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – Luzerne County Deputy District Attorney Tim Doherty called James Franco a “clear and present danger to the residents of Luzerne County” during a bail revocation hearing on Thursday.

Franco, 30, of Hanover Township, has been arrested twice since he was released from the county correctional facility on June 2, when his girlfriend, Christina Graziano, posted $5,000 bail, according to arrest and court records.

His latest arrest was on Wednesday when Wilkes-Barre police said he held up a cab driver at knifepoint, before making off with $88 and the cab.

According to arrest records, Hanover Township police arrested Franco on June 14 for allegedly stealing DVDs and a video game system during a home burglary on Stanley Street.

Franco was arrested in May by Nanticoke police and charged with robbing the Uni-Mart store on Main Street. He is also scheduled to be sentenced next month in county court for stealing women’s purses in Nanticoke and Hanover Township, according to court records.

Doherty said Franco’s behavior has become more violent, noting the latest arrest involved a knife.

On Thursday, prosecutors asked Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Chester Muroski to revoke Franco’s bail because of the ongoing arrests. Doherty said Franco’s bail should be $50,000 or $100,000 because Franco is a “clear and present danger to the residents of Luzerne County.”

Franco’s lawyers, Nanda Palissery and Nicole Bednarek, said the request to revoke Franco’s bail is premature. Such a request, they suggested, should be made after prosecutors present their case during a preliminary hearing.

“There was no preliminary hearing held and there is no evidence that Mr. Franco committed those (recent) crimes,” Palissery said.

Muroski didn’t have to make a decision. Instead, Palissery and Bednarek withdrew the $5,000 bail Graziano had posted on June 2.

That means Franco’s bail was reset at $50,000 on the charges filed by Nanticoke police in May. He is also being held on $50,000 bail stemming from the charges filed Wednesday by Wilkes-Barre police, according to court records.

Franco is tentatively scheduled for preliminary hearings on July 3 on the burglary charges in Hanover Township, and July 8 on the robbery charges in Wilkes-Barre.

Sheena Delazio, a Times Leader staff writer, contributed to this report.

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