Skrep says rumors of attempting suicide, taking kickbacks false

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.comLuzerne County Reporter

Luzerne County Commissioner said he did not try to commit suicide.

He also said he never accepted any kickbacks, never stayed at a condominium owned by county judges and has not had his property searched by federal investigators.

Skrepenak said he wants to set the record straight because these are some of the rumors he’s been confronted with in light of the federal public corruption investigation of the county court system.

He said the talk about an attempted suicide was the last straw. Friends as far away as Scranton have contacted him to make sure he was alive, he said.

“I’ve received numerous calls. I’ve literally had people calling me crying because they were concerned,” Skrepenak said.

The suicide rumor implied that Skrepenak tried to end his life because he was implicated in the federal investigation.

“I’m flabbergasted. I’ve got to say, do some people hate me that much that they’re willing to do this? For someone to stoop that low to start such a rumor is wrong. I’m still a member of this community,” he said.

Skrepenak said he has no connection to the federal investigation, which has led to charges against judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella and court administrator William Sharkey.

“Some people want to associate me so bad with this. People are reveling in the gossip,” he said.

Skrepenak voted to lease the Pittston Township juvenile detention center for $58 million over 20 years, but said he never received any payments or other perks for his decision. Ciavarella and Conahan are accused of receiving kickbacks in exchange for favorable judicial rulings and other actions that led to the county’s use of the center.

“I never took a dime of money for the detention center or anything else I’ve ever done as a commissioner,” Skrepenak said.

A spreading claim that Skrepenak and his family stayed at a Florida condominium owned by Conahan and Ciavarella is not true, he said.

Skrepenak said he would tell the truth if he did, noting he was upfront with a reporter about staying at a beach house owned by his friend Chuck Volpe, who was affiliated with a company that did insurance business with the county.

Talk about an FBI search of his personal property surfaced Tuesday, and Skrepenak said neither his property nor his parents’ property has been searched.

Skrepenak said he’s tired of the perception that he used his commissioner seat to “take everything for myself.”

“I was one of the two commissioners who voted to close down Valley Crest Nursing Home, and my sister worked there,” he said. “I made my own sister a sacrificial lamb, and I did not try to get her a job somewhere else.”