Ashley man benefits from concurrent sentences for separate offenses

Jan. 18—WILKES-BARRE — Despite the separate criminal offenses happening two years apart, an Ashley man benefited by a sentence structured by a Luzerne County judge on Tuesday.

Robert Alan Cipollini, 48, of Mary Street, appeared before Judge David W. Lupas to be sentenced on two counts of theft and a single count of access device fraud related to the theft of two credit cards.

Fairview Township police in court records say Cipollini stole the credit cards from a co-worker's purse when he was employed at a restaurant in Mountain Top on March 25, 2019.

Police said on the same day Cipollini stole the credit cards, he purchased items at a department store and a service station in Hazle Township.

Lupas sentenced Cipollini to one-to-two years in state prison structuring the sentence to run at the same time as "any sentence serving and with each other," according to the disposition sheet.

Cipollini was sentenced Dec. 8 by President Judge Michael T. Vough to three-to-six years in state prison on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm, a separate offense that happened two years after he stole the credit cards.

Ashley police charged Cipollini after he fired a round from a 9mm handgun during a road rage dispute with another driver in the area of 131 N. Main St. on March 26, 2021.

Police recovered a 9mm shell casing in the area of shooting.

Prosecutors withdrew charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault against Cipollini in the Ashley incident.

As for the theft of credit cards, Lupas ordered Cipollini to pay a total of $800.71 in restitution.