The TV Caper

By Betty Roccograndi

Don’t feel sorry for Thom Greco just because he was snookered out of a few TVs.  At least he’s no longer saddled with his aging and dilapidated train station.  We are.

And is it possible that after all this time we underestimated former Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak?  Maybe he wasn’t as clueless as he sometimes seemed.

Greco pleaded guilty on Monday to knowing about a crime but failing to report it.  The crime was that an elected official finagled some televisions out of Greco, and everyone knows you can’t do that unless you’re from Luzerne County and feel entitled.

The flamboyant Greco admitted that he bought them for someone ”involved in Luzerne County’s allocation of money”  to buy his white elephant, the Market Street Square train station in Wilkes-Barre, The Times Leader reported.

Well, that had to be one of the three county commissioners.  So which one was it? Steve Urban?  Todd Vonderheid?  Or Skrepenak, whose father owned a sports bar?  This is a tough one, but our money is on Skrepenak, especially since Urban and Vonderheid “vehemently denied” receiving any TVs.

The TL couldn’t question Skrepenak about TV-Gate because true to form, he was nowhere to be found,  just like when he worked at the Keystone Kourthouse.

 But a high ranking county source told the TL that the televisions were ordered for Skrepenak and then delivered to Big Ugly’s Sports Bar & Grill, his father’s place.  According to a statement read in court Monday, when Greco asked to be paid for the TVs, the “official” told him to take a hike.

So if the official is indeed Skrep, he sure bested Greco, who limped away with his tail between his legs.  The poor guy kept this to himself all this time.  Maybe he was embarrassed that he was duped and didn’t get at least a deposit up front like any good business person would.

Greco confirmed in court Monday that the official who stiffed him felt that he was owed a little something for the county loaning $5.8 million to the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority to buy Market Street Square.  The cost of doing business, some might say.

Anyway,  from our vantage point, the real crime here was loaning even a dime, never mind $5.8 million, to the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority, whose track record is pretty pitiful.

We’re still wondering why the county commissioners would agree to a $5.8-million purchase price when two separate appraisals valued the property at $5.7 million,  as reported by The Times Leader.  Someone needs to check these two oddly identical appraisals.

Since 2006, the train station remains a sitting wreck, collecting dust and rust.  It was supposed to become the county’s new tourism center, but the redevelopment authority is broke and can’t get any grants to develop it.

“Hopefully, something will happen fairly soon so the building doesn’t deteriorate further,” acting redevelopment authority Director Andrew Reilly, told the TL.  And hopefully Greco will pay his $106,000 of back taxes, if he hasn’t already.  And maybe Tinker Bell will show up at the Farmers’ Market on Public Square.

As for Big Ugly’s,  it abruptly closed a few months ago.   Maybe the bar fell behind on its cable bill and its service was cut, and that’s where Greco drew the line, refusing to pay it.