Ross Scarantino gets 13 months

SCRANTON – The 81 letters written in support of Ross Scarantino failed to move a federal judge to show leniency Thursday on the former Pittston Area superintendent.

Scarantino, 64, of Duryea, received a 13-month prison sentence and fined $15,100 for his guilty plea to accepting a $5,000 in cash to influence the awarding of a contract in the district.

“I am truly sorry for my conduct. What I did was wrong,” Scarantino said in his short address to the court.

Scarantino was the first sentenced from the more than a dozen people charged in an ongoing public corruption probe that has spread from the Luzerne County court to government and school districts.

U.S. District Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie said he read all the letters and admitted having a hard time reconciling the accolades for Scarantino with the crime he committed.

“This kind of conduct should have torn at the very fabric of your being,” Vanaskie told Scarantino.

The judge said he was led to believe “that there are two Dr. Scarantinos;” one who was committed to the children of the district, and another who was willing to benefit from that commitment.

“What you worked so hard at creating is destroyed by the very acts that you did,” Vanaskie said.

On the bench he paged through some of the letters written by family and friends that Scarantino’s attorneys presented in their attempt to persuade Vanaskie to go lower than the 10-to-16-month imprisonment range recommended by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Defense attorney Frank Nocito said the letters spoke “far more eloquently” than him and he read passages detailing the numerous programs for students and teachers Scarantino established, such as the Kindergarten Center, the Primary Center and the Excellence in Teaching program.

“He didn’t achieve what he did sitting in an ivory tower,” Nocito told the judge. “He was hands-on, your honor.”

Nocito’s co-counsel, attorney Philip Gelso, cited a letter from one of Scarantino’s two daughters that described the school district as “his third child.” Scarantino spent so much time at work and at school events “that the family would at times suffer because of his devotion to the district.”

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Phillips argued Scarantino’s good deeds did not rise to the level that would have earned him the break sought by his attorneys.

She acknowledged Scarantino was entitled to some relief because of his cooperation and acceptance of responsibility for the crime.

Still, she sought prison time for him and said he was powerful figure in the community who betrayed the trust placed in him.

“Public corruption is an insidious disease” that “erodes the very foundation” on which a community is built, she said.

Vanaskie agreed that Scarantino’s good works were not extraordinary, the standard required for a departure from the sentencing guidelines.

He recalled something he learned from working for the late Gov. Robert Casey, of Scranton.

The governor recognized that holding public office is not for one’s own enrichment; instead it is a “public trust” that should be upheld, Vanaskie said.

That wasn’t the case for Scarantino, the judge noted, adding, “This culture of corruption that’s being unveiled here is one we have to root out.”

Most of the people at the 55-minute hearing were family and friends of Scarantino. They declined comment.

The mother of two students in the district attended the hearing and left unimpressed.

“He apologized in there, but not once has he said to the students, ‘I’m very sorry. What I did was wrong,’ ” said Melanie Yozwiak. “That’s what gets me.”

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Federal Investigation of Schools

Despite 81 letters supporting Pittston Area leader, judge notes ex-superintendent’s good works weren’t extraordinary.

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