State trooper awarded $501,004 in suit agaist state police

WILKES-BARRE – A

Pennsylvania

state police trooper who alleged a phone conversation with a supervisor was illegally recorded without his permission has been awarded more than $500,000 in damages by a federal jury.

Mario J. Diana was awarded $262,126 in compensatory damages and $238,878 in punitive damages against Carmen Altavilla, former commander of Troop P in

Wyoming

, and Lt. Willard Oliphant. The jury rendered the verdict late Thursday afternoon following a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo in federal court in Wilkes-Barre.

Diana filed suit in 2005, alleging Altavilla ordered Oliphant to tape record a phone conversation in which Diana, who was off on a workers’ compensation claim, was ordered to return to work.

Diana claimed he was never advised the conversation was being recorded, which violates state and federal wiretap laws. State police maintained there was an intermittent beep that sounded on the line that would have alerted Diana the conversation was being taped.

For the complete story read Saturday’s Times Leader