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By Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – An inmate facing the death penalty for a deadly shooting in May solicited an inmate to kill two eyewitnesses to the homicide, Luzerne County District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll said.

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Gregory Orlando Fann Jr. is brought to District Justice Kane’s office after being arrested for solicitation to commit homicide.

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Gregory Orlando Fann, 21, used a typewriter at the county correctional facility to write a letter for the inmate providing the addresses and physical descriptions of the witnesses, investigators said. Investigators said Fann also provided a photograph of one of the witnesses and wrote “Target” under the witness’ picture.

“We take a situation like this very seriously,” Musto Carroll said. “We have a person charged with homicide and facing the death penalty and trying to eliminate witnesses. This behavior cannot be tolerated.”

Fann was charged with a single count of criminal solicitation to commit homicide. He was arraigned by District Judge Martin Kane in Wilkes-Barre early Tuesday evening and remanded to the county correctional for lack of $250,000 bail. Fann has been jailed without bail since his arrest on May 30 for the shooting death of Aaron Witko, 19, in Edwardsville. Investigators said Witko arranged to sell Fann an assault rifle for $200 and marijuana. Witko, Fann and two male juveniles – a 15-year old and a 17-year old – walked across the Wilkes-Barre Railroad Connecting Bridge, commonly called the Black Diamond Bridge, to a secluded area on May 29. Witko was setting up the assault rifle when the two juveniles witnessed Fann shoot Witko with a .44-caliber revolver, arrest records say. According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday by county Det. Dan Beky and state police Trooper Lisa Brogan: While jailed at the county correctional facility, Fann talked about his legal problems with an inmate. Fann offered the inmate $10,000 and weapons to kill the two witnesses to the deadly shooting. Fann also provided information about the witnesses locations, places where they hang out, and the best time to kill them, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators said Fann typed a letter that he mailed to a Dunmore address with instructions on where the witnesses could be found.

When assistant district attorneys Richard Hughes and Jill Matthews declared that they are seeking the death penalty for Fann, investigators said Fann told the inmate, “these boys gotta go,” according to the criminal complaint. Investigators searched Fann’s cell on Monday and allegedly found letters he wrote detailing personal information about one of the witnesses to the deadly shooting. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Dec. 29 in Central Court. Fann pleaded guilty in October to a single count of robbery in connection to stealing money from a pizza delivery employee in January 2007. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26.