What is Paige thinking?
Did you know there’s a convicted criminal sitting on Scranton’s taxpayer-funded Human Relations Commission?
According to the Scranton Times-Tribune, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti appointed Michael Villa to the board in November 2022.
In August 2023, Villa was “sentenced to six months of probation for resisting arrest, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer and defiant trespassing.”
Cognetti kept him on the board.
On Sept. 16, “a protection from abuse order was issued against Villa…which required he relinquish all firearms. Villa, however, did not turn over his guns.”
Cognetti still kept him on the board.
Villa was arrested again Friday.
He was booked on multiple charges, including aggravated assault, for trespassing “on West Scranton High School property Friday and later assaulting a Geisinger employee attempting to help him during a mental health crisis.”
As of today, Villa is still on the board.
CLF COMMENT: “Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti cannot be trusted to represent Pennsylvania’s working families when she knowingly employs convicted criminals.” – CLF Spokeswoman Lydia Hall