Daniel R. Hohal shaking hands with Wilkes-Barre Township Mayor Carl Kuren.
Courtesy of Carl Kuren, Mayor of Wilkes-Barre Township, Facebook page.
EXETER — Recently hired Wilkes-Barre Township Business Administrator Daniel R. Hohal is facing a misdemeanor simple assault charge stemming from an alleged domestic incident with his wife last month.
Wyoming Area Regional Police, in court records, say Erin Jopling, 43, reported she arrived at their home on Grant Street in Exeter and asked Hohal to turn down a radio on July 19. Jopling claimed Hohal was intoxicated and they often fight, so she left the house, court records say.
When Jopling returned home, according to court records, she alleged Hohal grabbed her by the throat, shoved her on a couch and spat in her face.
Hohal denied he touched Jopling, court records say.
Wilkes-Barre Township Mayor Carl Kuren announced June 1 that Hohal was hired as the township business manager, a position that had been vacant for nearly a year after Michael Revitt abruptly resigned due to an internal police investigation. Revitt was subsequently charged with using township bank cards to fuel his personal vehicles, according to court records.
In Kuren’s hiring announcement, Hohal was to start as township business manager July 31.
Messages left for Kuren and Hohal at the township municipal building were not returned Tuesday.
Wyoming Area Regional Police charged Hohal with simple assault and a summary harassment offense. Hohal was arraigned on July 20 by District Judge Michael Dotzel of Wilkes-Barre Township, as he was released on his own recognizance.
A preliminary hearing on the domestic violence case is scheduled for Aug. 18 in Luzerne County Central Court.
Civil court records say Jopling filed a protection from abuse (PFA) petition on Aug. 19, 2025, alleging Hohal was drunk and banged on a bedroom door inside their home at 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 17, 2025. Jopling wrote in her petition that Hohal spat and screamed at her, and shoved her outside, where he pushed her onto the ground. Joplin claimed she was locked out of her house for several hours and went to an Urgent Care facility for injuries.
Court of Common Pleas Judge Tina Polachek Gartley, on Aug. 28, 2025, granted a one-year PFA order against Hohal, who was prohibited from harassing and hitting Jopling.
On Dec. 19, 2025, Jopling filed a motion, which was granted the same day, to have the PFA order dismissed, claiming they were in counseling, and their relationship had improved.
In an unrelated case, Hohal was sentenced by Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark Bufalino on April 21, 2026, to six months in the county’s Accelerated Rehabilitation Program (ARD) for a drunken driving conviction. Hohal was charged by Wilkes-Barre City police with having an alcohol level of .186 percent after he crashed his 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle with another vehicle in the area of 89 N. Sherman St. on Aug. 18, 2025, court records say.
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