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By BILL PEACE; Times Leader Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 18, 1995 Page: 3A
SALEM TWP. — An armed 36-year-old man whose wife filed a protection from
abuse order against him, held his wife and her mother hostage Tuesday morning
before surrendering to police, state police said.
During the two-hour standoff with police, Jon Kevin Criswell fired two guns
into a wooded area near his trailer home off Waterdam Road, police said. The
trailer home was surrounded by 12 state and local police officers, police
said.
In an arrest warrant affidavit, his wife, Ellen Criswell, told police that
her husband would not allow her or her mother, Bernice Zwalkoski, to leave
Zwalkoski’s house or make telephone calls. The house is about 200 yards from
the trailer home where Criswell was staying.
While police were at the scene, Criswell left the Zwalkoski residence and
returned to his trailer where he fired the shots, police said.
Police were able to take Criswell into custody without incident, police
said. After an arraignment before District Justice John Hasay of Shickshinny,
he was taken to Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $50,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Friday, Oct. 27, before Hasay. But
Hasay said the hearing might be moved to a different district court.
Police charged Criswell with terroristic threats, two counts each of
harassment, simple assault, false imprisonment and 12 counts of endangering
another person — one count for each police officer at the scene.
He also was charged with indirect criminal contempt regarding violation of
a protection from abuse order filed against him. At his arraignment, Criswell
argued that there was no such order, Hasay said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Criswell did not post bail.
“I credit the joint effort between law enforcement officers for bringing
this to a peaceful ending,” said Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Raymond
Whittaker.
Police initially responded to a domestic dispute between Criswell and his
wife at 2 a.m. Tuesday. The affidavit said Criswell struck his wife in the
face after they returned home late Monday night from the American Ukrainian
Club in Berwick.
Criswell also choked Ellen’s mother inside her house, the affidavit said.
Criswell loaded a shotgun he retrieved from the basement of the house, went
outside and fired the gun, the affidavit said.
He then went into the trailer and got a 9 mm handgun and fired it, the
affidavit said. Police said Criswell knew police were in the area when he
fired both guns.