Federal Investigation of Schools

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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SCRANTON – Former Pittston Area School Board President Joseph Oliveri has agreed to plead guilty to accepting up to $5,000 in exchange for helping a contractor get work in the district.

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The plea, which was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office, comes on the heels of Oliveri’s resignation from the school board and his job at the Luzerne County Sheriff’s office citing unexplained “personal reasons” late last week.

When Pittston Area Superintendent Ross Scarantino was charged with corruption in April, Oliveri joined his fellow board members at public meetings in adamantly denying any knowledge of wrongdoing.

Four months later, Oliveri, 52, of Hughestown, himself faces corruption charges.

On Tuesday the U.S. Attorney’s office released paperwork signed by Oliveri on Aug. 6 in which he agreed to plead guilty to charges of “corrupt receipt of reward for official action concerning programs receiving federal funds.”

Interim U.S. Attorney Dennis Pfannenschmidt signed the agreement Tuesday. The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Federal authorities say Oliveri accepted between $1,000 and $5,000 sometime in January 2009 for helping a contractor garner work in the district. The maximum penalty is 10 years in jail, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, though the actual sentence likely will be less severe.

Oliveri could also be forced to pay prosecution costs, fines and restitution. Oliveri agreed to cooperate with investigators and could receive a recommendation for a reduced sentence as a result, though a judge would not be bound by that recommendation.

Attempts to reach Oliveri for comment were unsuccessful on Tuesday.

The paperwork does not name the contractor or give a date the contract was awarded, but federal authorities did take records earlier this year regarding work at Pittston Area done by Intellacom, a computer company based in Plains Township, and King Paint and Glass in Kingston.

Oliveri’s son had worked at Intellacom, and Oliveri made a motion in April 2007 to award a no-bid contract to Intellacom worth $269,192 under a state program. That motion included 13 other actions and was unanimously approved.

Intellacom got similar no-bid work at the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center worth $578,364 in January 2008. Oliveri represented Pittston Area on the center’s Joint Operating Committee at the time, and seconded the motion to award that contract. The center has also been targeted by investigators.

Intellacom and its owner, Anthony Trombetta, have not been charged with any wrongdoing. Trombetta has repeatedly declined comment through a person at the company office.

King Paint and Glass also did extensive work in the district in 2007, primarily carpet installation. Board President Mark Singer, an attorney, said Wednesday that he did not know what company the federal paperwork referred to, and did not recall Oliveri pushing for any particular company since joining the board in December 2005, but that there had been a dispute on the board regarding the awarding of the carpet installation contract.

Theoretically, Oliveri could have been in a stronger position to influence contracts during nearly all of 2008, when he served as board president. A president is elected by the board the first week of each December, so he or she presumably has the support of a majority.

A president also appoints members of standing school board committees that typically recommend action on specific issues such as finances or personnel, But Singer said that, while such committees existed in the past, Pittston Area generally does not have standing committees, opting instead to work as a “committee of the whole” on most issues.

As the official spokesman for the rest of the board, the president might also influence what items end up on an agenda, though the superintendent and administration usually make the bulk of recommendations, Singer said.

Other board members can suggest something be added to an agenda, and there is always a part of each public meeting set aside for “new business,” giving all board members a chance to seek action on an issue.

The bottom line, Singer said, is that while it’s possible for a president to sway events, each decision ultimately requires at least four other members agreeing.

Singer also noted that, during Scarantino’s tenure, the board often was given a simple recommendation for many actions without being asked for much input. He said that has changed since George Cosgrove took over as superintendent after Scarantino left.

“We put a lot of trust in (Scarantino) and that was wrong,” Singer said, “Now we have a superintendent that runs everything by us, is much more open and puts a lot more issues to the board.”