COURT BRIEFS

SCRANTON -- A Hazleton man has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of receiving and distributing child pornography.

Rafael Polonia, 21, agreed to a plea deal that calls for him to be sentenced to eight to 11 years in prison, with lifetime supervision upon his release, according to a press release issued by U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith.

Prosecutors say Polonia used a computer to obtain and traffic child pornography in January 2012.

The charge against Polonia resulted from an investigation by Homeland Security Investigators and the Pennsylvania State Police as part of the Project Safe Childhood.

WILKES-BARRE – A former county assistant public defender and local attorney charged with crashing his vehicle into a parked vehicle while driving under the influence was sentenced Wednesday to three to six months on house arrest.

Jonathan Ursiak, 41, of Wyoming, was sentenced on two counts of DUI by county Senior Judge Joseph Augello.

Augello said the first 30 days of Ursiak's sentence must be served with an electronic monitor. Ursiak was also ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and turn in his driver's license for suspension by Sept. 12

Forty Fort police charged Ursiak on Aug. 26, 2011, after they said his vehicle hit a parked vehicle while he was pulling into a parking lot of a convenience store.

Police said Ursiak had a blood-alcohol level of .33 percent. An adult driver in Pennsylvania is considered intoxicated with BAC of .08 percent.

He must complete an Alcohol Highway Safety Program.

WILKES-BARRE – A Luzerne County judge on Wednesday denied a request to reduce the prison sentence of a man charged in a deadly shooting.

Judge Lesa Gelb denied a request to reduce the 10- to 20-year sentence of Jaboar Stanley, 30, who was sentenced in July on a third-degree murder charge in the February 2011 shooting death of Emmanuel Felix.

Stanley asked for his sentence to be reduced because his wife's health is failing and he is the sole provider for their eight children.

Prosecutors say Stanley shot and killed Felix during a game of poker in Hazleton.