Crime & Courts

July 10, 2008

court briefs

WILKES-BARRE – A Nanticoke man was sentenced to up to five years in state prison, followed by 16 months house arrest and 60 days probation on drug-related charges.

Raymond Paul Rittenhouse, 47, was sentenced Wednesday by Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski. The judge ordered Rittenhouse to pay more than $1,200 in restitution costs.

Rittenhouse was sentenced on three counts of delivery of a controlled substance, one count of possession with intent to deliver; possession of drug paraphernalia; and two counts of driving under the influence. He pleaded guilty to the charges in June.

WILKES-BARRE – A 24-year-old man was sentenced Monday to five to 10 years in state prison on robbery charges.

Thomas Allen, of Stillwater, was sentenced by Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Thomas Burke on charges of recklessly endangering another person and theft by unlawful taking. Allen will receive 331 days for time served.

According to court papers, a woman called police in August and reported that after she withdrew money from an ATM at a First Keystone Bank in Berwick, a man, later identified as Allen, pointed a handgun at her and demanded the cash.

Allen pushed her to the ground, arrest papers say, slamming her head against glass, breaking her eye glasses and wrestling her to the ground. Police said Allen took the money and wallet and fled on a mountain bicycle.

WILKES-BARRE – A 27-year-old man pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday on robbery charges.

Jeremy Styles Boyd, Kingston, was sentenced to nine to 18 months in county prison by Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Hugh Mundy.

Boyd will serve the sentence concurrently with other charges, totaling 18 months.

According to arrest papers, Boyd got into a cab in Kingston and asked to be taken to the Luke Oil Convenient Mart on Wyoming Avenue in December. Police said Boyd refused to pay the $4.23 fare and exited the cab. Police said the cab driver got out and yelled to Boyd, who then reached under his trench coat with his right hand and made “motions and body posture” as if he had a gun, then fled on foot.

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