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WILKES-BARRE — A bail reduction hearing has been set in the forgery trial of a woman also questioned in the disappearance of her grandmother and the mysterious death of her son.
Linasheri D’Onofrio, 51, of Plains Township, has a bail reduction hearing scheduled for next Wednesday, according to an order filed by Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. this week.
D’Onofrio is facing felony counts of forgery and theft, along with a misdemeanor count of theft.
She allegedly forged checks belonging to neighbor Ronald Heck while she was watching his house while he was in a nursing home in 2014.
D’Onofrio was arrested in early April, and has been in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility since then for lack of $300,000 bail.
Sklarosky scheduled a hearing for Wednesday on the bail reduction — but D’Onofrio’s case is currently set to go to trial Monday. Records do not show whether the trial has been continued, and that could not be immediately confirmed on Friday.
Attorneys cite long wait
In a filing by her attorneys John Pike and Allyson Kacmarski this week, they point out that D’Onofrio has been in jail awaiting her trial for a longer period than the standard maximum sentence, should she be convicted.
Of the crimes she’s accused of, most carry a standard sentence of restorative sanctions, and the stiffest sentence she could be facing is nine months of prison time. She’s been locked up for just about nine-and-a-half months.
The attorneys are seeking for her bail to be lowered so she could have a legitimate chance of getting out of jail.
Missing relatives
Prosecutors accuse D’Onofrio of writing the checks out to her elderly grandmother, Mary Mikulak, allegedly stealing an amount close to $3,000.
But Mikulak has been missing for years, and is presumed dead. Investigators have not been able to track her down or find death records.
D’Onofrio was also questioned in connection with the mysterious death of her disabled adult son, Shain D’Onofrio. His skeletal remains were found in a shed near her property after firefighters battled a blaze in the shed early last year.
No one has been charged in connection with either of those cases.