Man injured in blast still critical

WEST PITTSTON – A man injured when his house exploded in August remains in critical condition at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown.

David Lamoreaux, 43, has been hospitalized since the blast that leveled his Penn Avenue, Exeter, home on Aug. 1.

During a preliminary hearing on Wednesday before District Judge Joseph Carmody, Lamoreaux’s wife, Deborah Lamoreaux, 46, and Christopher Pack, 45, waived simple assault charges to Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.

Prosecutors withdrew two other charges against the two. The pair were charged in connection with an alleged assault five days before the explosion.

Luzerne County Deputy Assistant District Attorney David Pedri said on Wednesday that David Lamoreaux was recently removed from a medically induced coma but is unable to talk.

“Police have on numerous occasions attempted to talk to him, but due to his medical condition, he’s incoherent,” Pedri said.

Pedri said Exeter police Sgt. Len Galli last attempted to talk to Lamoreaux on Tuesday at the Lehigh Valley hospital.

Exeter police Chief John McNeil said after the explosion that he believed the blast was not an accident, and investigators were looking at the family’s domestic problems as a possible motive.

Five days before the explosion, according to arrest records, David Lamoreaux said he was assaulted by his wife, Deborah, and Pack at his home.

Two neighbors witnessed Deborah Lamoreaux enter the home and Pack hide behind shrubs near the rear of the residence on July 27. Lamoreaux told police on July 27 that he argued with his wife and heard her yell, “Get in here.”

Police said Pack allegedly kicked in the rear door and assaulted Lamoreaux, who suffered injures during the assault.

Two days after the house explosion, police charged Deborah Lamoreaux and Pack with simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and criminal conspiracy. Pack was further charged with burglary, according to court records.

The attorney for Deborah Lamoreaux and Pack, Vincent Cappellini, said Wednesday that Deborah Lamoreaux will likely plead guilty and apply to be accepted into the county’s accelerated rehabilitation disposition program, a special probationary program for first-time offenders.