News

July 8, 2009

Selenski's ex-girlfriend testifies at Monroe County trial

By Sheena Delazio sdelazio@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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Editor's note: Times Leader staff writer Sheena Delazio is covering the Monroe County robbery trial of Hugo Selenski. The most recent updates to this story appear at the top of this page.

Updated: 3:10 p.m.

 Hugo Selenski's ex-girlfriend Christina Strom testified Wednesday that Selenski owned a pair of New Balance sneakers, and that he had a black gun in the closet of their bedroom at Strom's Dallas Township home the couple shared.

That evidence was admitted by prosecutors and identified by police as the shoe prints outside Samuel Goosay's home. They confirmed that a similar black gun was used in the robbery.

Strom also testifed that Selenski gave her $10,000 that she needed to close on the Dallas Township home in 2002, and that he had normally driven her white Honda Accord. A witness said she saw that vehicle drive away from Goosay's Tannersville jewelry store the same night of the robbery at his home.

Testimony is continuing.

Posted: 1:04 p.m.

Prosecutors have called three witnesses, including a state police trooper who said he recovered several items from the home of Samuel Goosay, including flex ties, and items from Goosay's stolen vehicle where police found two bloody towels.

Cpl. Jody Radziewicz testified he was called to the Goosay's home in Chestnut Hill Township shortly after the home invasion and robbery, where he found footprints in the snow, as well as the impression of a bag police found inside Goosay"s stolen vehicle.

Prosecutors also called Goosay's wife, Ellen, to the stand where she testified nearly $50,000 worth of her own jewelery had been stolen that night. Ellen Goosay testified she was in New York City at a jewelry show when she called around 7:20 p.m. to let her husband know she was coming home. That's when he told her about the robbery and break-in, Ellen Goosay testified.

Testimony will continue at 1:30 p.m.

Posted: 11:12 a.m.

Opening statements have been completed and prosecutors have called their first witness in a Monroe County robbery case against homicide suspect Hugo Selenski.

Assistant District Attorney Colleen Mancuso said in her opening statement that several state troopers, and previous testimony from the late Michael Kerkowski, the father of a man police say Selenski murdered, will testify at the trial where Selenski is charged with a January 2003 robbery of a Tannersville jeweler.

Defense Attorney Wieslaw Niemoczynski said that just because there is similar evidence used in the robbery as in a Luzerne County homicide case Selenski is also accused in does not mean that he committed the robbery.

Prosecutors called their first witness, jeweler Samuel Goosay, who testified that two masked men entered his Chestnut Hill Township home, tied him up with flex ties and duct tape, stole jewelry and money and fled.

Goosay said one man, who he believed was Selenski, stayed behind and demanded money and asked for the combination and passwords to safes and security systems at his jewelry store, Finishing Touches Fine Jewelry in Tannersville.

He said the second man stole his car and attempted to break into the jewelry store.

Testimony is continuing.

For the complete story, read Thursday's Times Leader and timesleader.com.

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