Police: Aryan Brotherhood member wanted in Carbondale assault arrested for meth sale
Feb. 28—A reputed member of a white supremacist prison gang, sought on an arrest warrant for domestic violence, was caught Monday in Carbondale selling crystal methamphetamine wrapped in a fast-food receipt, city police said.
James Pavlichko, 37, Carbondale, is jailed in Lackawanna County Prison on two sets of charges, which include strangulation, simple assault and drug offenses, court records show. Bail set Monday evening by Magisterial District Judge Paul Keeler in the two cases amounts to $100,000.
After Carbondale police arrested him, Pavlichko, of 37 Holly Ave., told an officer he is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, police said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center described the prison gang as being "involved in practically every kind of criminal enterprise, including murder-for-hire, armed robbery, gun running, methamphetamine manufacturing, heroin sales, counterfeiting and identity theft." They are present in most major state and federal prisons, the group said.
In 2015, a federal judge sentenced Pavlichko to nine years in prison for selling a stolen gun to a convicted felon in Kingston.
He was released in May 2021, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Carbondale police had been looking for him since Feb. 22, when his girlfriend reported he choked her then beat her with a broom and bit her after she defended herself by stabbing him with a fork.
Authorities caught up with Pavlichko soon after Carbondale K-9 police Officer Robert Williams learned he was involved in selling crystal methamphetamine.
Police said Pavlichko on Monday sold someone crystal methamphetamine wrapped in a Burger King receipt.
The bust was a joint investigation involving the Lackawanna County Drug Task Force and officers from Blakely, Mayfield, Scott Twp. and Greenfield Twp.
Pavlichko is due back in court for preliminary hearings March 9.
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