Police Blotter

NEWPORT TWP. – A man was charged by township police on Friday with assaulting a woman.

Matthew Stephen Ceppa, 40, of West Enterprise Street, Glen Lyon, was charged with simple assault, harassment, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $1,000 bail.

Police allege Ceppa assaulted Donna Wildoner at his residence just after 9 p.m. Thursday, according to the criminal complaint.

Wildoner told police, the criminal complaint says, that Ceppa threw her against a door, injuring her wrist.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Nov. 3 before District Judge Donald Whittaker in Nanticoke.

NANTICOKE – A man was arrested by police on Thursday on charges he assaulted his mother and younger brother and huffed gasoline.

Aaron James Mulhern, 18, of Mountain View Drive, Nanticoke, was charged with two counts each of simple assault and harassment, and a single count of illegal use of certain solvents and noxious substances. He was arraigned by District Judge Michael Dotzel in Wilkes-Barre Township and jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $2,500 bail.

According to the criminal complaint: Police allege Mulhern assaulted his younger brother during a fight, and shoved his mother inside their residence on Thursday. Mulhern’s mother told police that her son had been huffing gasoline for most of the day.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Nov. 3 before District Judge Donald Whittaker in Nanticoke.

WILKES-BARRE – Police said Bernard Nelson, 30, of Westminster Street, was found to be “in public manifestly under the influence of an alcoholic beverage” at 28 Academy St. around 6:05 p.m. Thursday.

• Officers are investigating a home burglary in the 200 block of Allen Street on Tuesday.

A laptop computer and a video game system were stolen from the home and later recovered. Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to contact West Hazleton police at 455-3733.

• A wheel was stolen from a 2003 Ford Escort when it was parked in the area of rear 18 W. Broad St. on Wednesday. Officers said a cinderblock was placed under the vehicle.

• Officers are investigating a burglary at CIB Upholstering, East Broad Street, on Friday. A window was smashed and an office was ransacked. Various hand tools were reported stolen.

Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to contact West Hazleton police at 455-3733.

SWOYERSVILLE – A woman was arrested on drug charges after police said they found crack and paraphernalia hidden in her clothing during a traffic stop on Thursday.

Marcella Lynn Kester, 22, of Main Street, Swoyersville, was charged with theft, receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a vehicle, driving with a suspended license, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

Police said Kester was involved in an argument with her mother and drove away in her mother’s vehicle without permission on Thursday.

Police stopped Kester on Shoemaker Street and allegedly found crack and pipes hidden inside her clothing, according to the criminal complaint.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Nov. 5 before District Judge David Barilla in Swoyersville.

EDWARDSVILLE – Aubry Thomas Barnes, 42, of West Union Street, Kingston, was charged with retail theft after police said he took curtains from Kmart on Thursday.

Barnes was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $1,000 bail.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Nov. 4 before District Judge Paul Roberts in Kingston.

• Police said they arrested Leonard Tokash, 30, of Pittston, on evidence of drunken driving early Friday morning. Tokash was stopped for speeding on state Route 315 near the North Cross Valley Expressway at about 12:30 a.m.

Tokash was charged with driving under the influence, and jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on an arrest warrant, police said.

• The driver of a vehicle sped away after striking a security officer at the Woodlands Inn and Resort, state Route 315, early Friday morning.

Police said the security officer was trying to break up a fight involving 20 people when he was struck by a vehicle that had a New Jersey registration plate.

Anyone with information about the driver or vehicle is asked to contact Plains Township police at 829-3432. .

PLAINS TWP. – A man wearing a clown mask was arrested by township police on evidence of drunken driving early Friday morning.

Police said Jordan Alexander Caraballo, 24, of Mountain Top, sped away after nearly hitting a township firefighter in the Woodlands Inn and Resort parking lot, state Route 315, just after 2 a.m.

Caraballo passed through a red traffic signal on Route 315 at a high rate of speed and was pursued by police until he stopped on Kidder Street, Wilkes-Barre, police said.