784caroline
04-22-2017, 08:44 AM
Former PA County Commissioner Munchak scheduled for early release from prison
Former Lackawanna County Commissioner A.J. Munchak is headed from federal prison to “Florida’s friendliest town.”
The 70-year-old is on track for early release from the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, and plans to live at the Villages, which bills itself as a community “where everything you could possibly want, need or dream of doing in your retirement years is just a golf-cart ride away.”
A jury convicted the Republican in June 2011, on federal corruption charges that he and former Commissioner Robert Cordaro demanded money from companies that wanted to do business with Lackawanna County in what prosecutors called a kickback and extortion scheme.
Munchak, currently inmate No. 68385-067, was sentenced to seven years in prison; Cordaro was sentenced to 11 years.
Munchak so far served time at the low-security Butner Federal Correctional Complex near Raleigh, North Carolina, and more recently the minimum-security facility in Pensacola to accommodate his request to be closer to his wife in Ocala, Florida.
Scranton attorney Christopher Powell, who represents Munchak and recently visited him, expects the former commissioner’s release from federal prison to come in November.
“He lost weight,” Powell said. “He looks great. He’s looking forward to his release.”
The federal Bureau of Prisons approved transferring Munchak to a halfway house, followed by home confinement, during which the U.S. probation office will monitor him.
The former Scranton resident’s release is scheduled for May 7, 2018. Upon release, he will live at the Villages and be supervised by the probation office.
“Inmates in the BOP’s custody may release directly from a correctional institution or instead from home confinement or a halfway house, also called a Residential Reentry Center,” explained agency spokesman Justin Long, who did not address Munchak specifically.
After imprisonment, Munchak will live in a community that in a Youtube video, Sales Manager Jennifer Parr described as: “A collection of quiet neighborhoods, each filled with its own amenities and activities and future friends like you.”
The experience includes champion and executive golf courses, country clubs, swimming and other recreation activities for a monthly fee of $145 based on a $250,000 home.
Listed real estate values range widely, from a $1.09 million four-bedroom home at the Village of Bridgeport at Lake Miona to a $119,900 two-bedroom manufactured home in the Village of Orange Blossom Gardens. It’s not clear which community he will live.
Contact the writer: kwind@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100, x5181; @kwindTT on Twitter
Former Lackawanna County Commissioner A.J. Munchak is headed from federal prison to “Florida’s friendliest town.”
The 70-year-old is on track for early release from the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, and plans to live at the Villages, which bills itself as a community “where everything you could possibly want, need or dream of doing in your retirement years is just a golf-cart ride away.”
A jury convicted the Republican in June 2011, on federal corruption charges that he and former Commissioner Robert Cordaro demanded money from companies that wanted to do business with Lackawanna County in what prosecutors called a kickback and extortion scheme.
Munchak, currently inmate No. 68385-067, was sentenced to seven years in prison; Cordaro was sentenced to 11 years.
Munchak so far served time at the low-security Butner Federal Correctional Complex near Raleigh, North Carolina, and more recently the minimum-security facility in Pensacola to accommodate his request to be closer to his wife in Ocala, Florida.
Scranton attorney Christopher Powell, who represents Munchak and recently visited him, expects the former commissioner’s release from federal prison to come in November.
“He lost weight,” Powell said. “He looks great. He’s looking forward to his release.”
The federal Bureau of Prisons approved transferring Munchak to a halfway house, followed by home confinement, during which the U.S. probation office will monitor him.
The former Scranton resident’s release is scheduled for May 7, 2018. Upon release, he will live at the Villages and be supervised by the probation office.
“Inmates in the BOP’s custody may release directly from a correctional institution or instead from home confinement or a halfway house, also called a Residential Reentry Center,” explained agency spokesman Justin Long, who did not address Munchak specifically.
After imprisonment, Munchak will live in a community that in a Youtube video, Sales Manager Jennifer Parr described as: “A collection of quiet neighborhoods, each filled with its own amenities and activities and future friends like you.”
The experience includes champion and executive golf courses, country clubs, swimming and other recreation activities for a monthly fee of $145 based on a $250,000 home.
Listed real estate values range widely, from a $1.09 million four-bedroom home at the Village of Bridgeport at Lake Miona to a $119,900 two-bedroom manufactured home in the Village of Orange Blossom Gardens. It’s not clear which community he will live.
Contact the writer: kwind@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100, x5181; @kwindTT on Twitter