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By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@leader.net
Wednesday, January 26, 2000 Page: 2A
WILKES-BARRE – A Luzerne County prison official said guards are keeping a
close eye on death row inmate Tyrone Moore, who previously took part in a
“small riot” at the prison in 1983.
Moore, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, is
being housed temporarily at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility until a
hearing on an appeal of his conviction for the 1982 murder of Nicholas
Romanchick concludes this week in county court.
Deputy Warden Rowland Roberts said Moore is being held on the maximum
security wing. Guards will take extra precautions with Moore, including
clearing the exercise yard of other prisoners when he is there, Roberts said.
Moore, a Philadelphia native, was one of 16 inmates involved in a Sept. 13,
1983, riot in one of the prison wings, said Lt. Al Ottensman, a longtime
prison employee.
Ottensman said Moore and the others barricaded themselves in a portion of
the prison block and caused about $30,000 worth of damage before the uprising
was quelled four hours later.
“It started over a Monday night football game,” Ottensman said. “They
were not allowed out of their cells to watch the football game.”
Roberts said Moore will be permitted the same privileges as other inmates,
including recreation and purchases from the prison store, but he will be
“scrutinized much more.”
Moore is expected to be held at the prison until at least Thursday. He is
appealing his conviction and death sentence for killing Romanchick during a
robbery at the Forty Fort Animal Hospital in Wyoming.