NEWS

Arrests made in Kingston vandalism--ball bearings

One of two men police say smashed the windows of two borough businesses was on parole for robbing one of the businesses years earlier. <img alt="" src="http://www.bearing.com.cn/membcentre/editor/attached/image/20190128/20190128144549_47933.jpg" /> Police arrested Dalton Joseph Plath, 22, of Larksville, and Victor Anthony Robles, 19, of 364 Market St., Kingston, Saturday night. The two face numerous charges related to broken windows at KJ’s Pickle Barrel and Cee Kay Auto Parts. Plath is currently on parole for robbing the Pickle Barrel a few years ago. He was given a 27-to-60-month sentence in Luzerne County Court from Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr., for robbing KJ’s Pickle Barrel in Kingston and the American Legion and Uni-Mart in Plains Township in October and December of 2015. He had to pay $430 in restitution to KJ’s Pickle Barrel for his crime. According to the criminal complaint: Borough police were shown a video by Dino Rivello, owner of KJ’s Pickle Barrel, from the night of Jan. 22 when his store was damaged by ball bearings. The video shows a male walk out of 364 Market St., which is across the street from the two businesses. Shortly after two males are seen in the open doorway, with one appearing to kneel in the doorway. A cracking sound is heard on the video, believed to be the ball bearing hitting the window. The door closes to the residence at 364 Market St. The same things happens several times. Rivello told officers an employee called 911 early Saturday after witnessing two men handling a gun on the porch of 364 Market St. Officers knocked on the front door of 364 Market St., and identified themselves as police. Two men, later identified as Robles and Plath, were told by police that they were investigating a weapons complaint from earlier in the day along with a vandalism complaint from KJ’s Pickle Barrel. Robles had an answer for the officers questions saying, “It was a BB gun today. It’s on the couch. And the windows at KJ’s wasn’t us, it was my roommate. I can show you the sling shot.” Robles’ response prompted officers to ask who else was in the residence, to which Robles said his fiancee. Robles showed officers a Broadaz pellet gun, resembling a black .44 magnum revolver. Both men admitted to handling the pellet gun earlier in the day but insisted they didn’t point it at anyone. A blue plastic box containing a socket set was observed on the dining room table. The socket set was consistent with ones found on the ground by KJ’s. Robles escorted officers to the second floor of the home to his roommate Horany Gomez’s room. Gomez is the person Robles alleged shot out the windows. Police found the slingshot in question. Authorities asked Robles if they could search his phone. He granted them access. Text and Facebook messages were observed that indicated Robles had been distributing marijuana. Robles fiancee told police she did not know anything about the incident because she works during the night and hadn’t heard anyone discuss it. The pellet gun, slingshot and socket set were confiscated and Robles and Plath were taken into police custody. Robles again consented to a search of his phone, with the photo gallery the focus of law enforcement’s attention. Photos and videos were found from Jan. 17 when the stores were vandalized. Robles is heard on video saying he won’t get his face on the video. Plath can be heard saying, he doesn’t care about his face, he wants them to know who smashed out their window. He provided police with a video statement saying himself, Gomez and Plath were at the Market Street residence when Plath told them about why he was on state parole and that they decided to shoot out the windows. Robles told authorities that he had a falling out with Gomez several days later and that’s why he tried to place the blame soley on him. During the fight, Gomez threatened Robles by telling the police the windows were broken by him. The estimated cost to repair the damages to the windows of Cee Kay Auto Parts and KJ’s Pickel Barrel is approximately $6,000. Both men were arraigned by District Judge Daniel O’Donnell on Sunday morning. Robles was charged with nine counts of criminal mischief with damage to property, nine counts of criminal mischief for tampering with property and a single count of possession of an instrument of a crime. He was remanded to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $25,000. Plath was charged with similar offenses, including 19 criminal conspiracy counts. He was sent to the Luzerne County lockup for lack of $50,000 bail. v

28 Jan,2019

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