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WILKES-BARRE — Former Crestwood band director Theron Roberts will remain free on bail pending appeal of his conviction by a Luzerne County jury of inappropriately touching a female student.
Roberts was sentenced by Judge David W. Lupas to six-to-23 1/2 months at the county correctional facility on charges of institutional sexual assault and corruption of minors and 18 months probation on two counts of indecent assault.
A jury convicted Roberts following a two day trial that ended with the guilty verdicts June 27.
Lupas allowed Roberts, of Pringle, to remain free on bail as Attorney Frank W. Nocito appeals the conviction.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Roberts opted to remain silent as Nocito described his client had a troubled upbringing as a child, but became a devoted father and husband.
Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Julia Jacobs Van Leeuwan noted Roberts never expressed remorse for the traumatic and emotional harm he caused upon the woman, then 14-years-old, he was convicted of molesting.
During the trial, Nocito argued there animosity toward Roberts from certain members of the Crestwood Band Parents Association and no surveillance cameras near the band room recorded the inappropriate touching.
Van Leeuwan, during the trial, argued Roberts was a “predator and took advantage of a young girl.”
Wright Township police initially closed their investigation in December 2019, but reopened the investigation on Feb. 20, 2020, soon after the girl reported the inappropriate grabs.
Roberts was terminated by Crestwood in 2020.
Roberts is subject to lifetime registration of his address as a sexual offender under the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
Roberts as fined $100 by Lupas on a summary harassment conviction.
The June 2024 trial of Roberts was his second trial as a mistrial was declared in his first trial held in September 2023.
