Scranton ordinance on where registered sex offenders can live remains contrary to court decision

Dec. 18—SCRANTON — At 17, Zachary Pluko saw his future in the military or law enforcement.

At 29, the vision is a memory.

Pluko works at a Turkey Hill store to cover the monthly $600 rent he pays for a room on Moir Court. He and six other residents of 839-841 Moir Court mostly keep to themselves but they all share something in common: they're registered sex offenders.

Their residence, about 940 feet from a school, is contrary to an unenforced Scranton ordinance that remains part of the city code more than a decade after a state Supreme Court decision invalidated the premise of a similar local law near Pittsburgh — forbidding sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, among other places children congregate. Asked about the zombie ordinance, city officials said they are looking into whether to rescind or amend the language.

"As written, it won't stand," first assistant city solicitor Andrew Cutillo said.

Pluko, convicted in 2011 of rape, and other registered sex offenders often live and work where they can and with those who will have them. Sometimes, that brings them close to schools. Pennsylvania's Megan's Law, under which the identities and residences of sexual offenders are tracked and published, does not restrict where they can live.

"I made a mistake," Pluko said. "I was a stupid teenager at the time it happened and now that I look back at it I say I was dumb, stupid. There's so many things I could have done with my life. They've all been crushed because of something I did. Now I have to build myself from the ground up to become a productive member of society again."

Pluko is one of about 200 sex offenders with an address registered in Scranton that is not a hospital, shelter or state-run halfway house, according to a review of the state's Megan's Law database. Of those, 152 live within 2,500 feet of a Scranton School District school.

"As we do not control where Megan's Law registrants may reside, we practice wide-span information dissemination, aggressive vetting of school visitors and situational awareness concerning persons observed on or near school property," according to a district statement.

The sex offender registry, however, is always in flux and state police caution that some of it may be out of date.

Of Scranton's registered sex offenders, as of Friday:

At least 89 committed crimes involving a minor, including child pornography offenses. State law does not require noting if the victim was a minor for offenders convicted before Nov. 30, 2006.

 There are 26 designated as sexually violent predators, 19 of whom committed crimes against children. Four were convicted of aggravated indecent assault, eight have convictions for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and three were convicted of rape.

 The sex offender whose residence is closest to a city school is Gerald Dupell, 38, a lifetime registrant whose Maple Street address is 167 feet from South Scranton Intermediate School. In 2010, Dupell pleaded guilty in Bucks County to aggravated indecent assault of an unconscious person and indecent assault of an unconscious person, according to online court filings. The victim in that case was not a juvenile, according to the Megan's Law registry.

 About 58 live within 1,000 feet of a city school and 35 of those were convicted of crimes against children. The number narrows to 14 who reside within 500 feet of a school, of whom four committed crimes against children.

 Of those 152 offenders living within a 2,500 radius of city schools, 60 reside at a property owned by one of two men — Peter J. Bonacuse III and Robert "Bert" Sherman. Of those offenders, 15 live within 1,000 feet of a city public school and have been convicted of child sex offenses, including downloading child pornography or, in Pluko's case, rape.

 Of the 44 registrants listed at a Bonacuse property, more than half live around one of two properties — 11 in 647 Monroe Ave., and 14 between 840 Jefferson Ave. and 839-841 Moir Court, which is at the rear of the property.

In May 2016, the city code enforcement office, formerly known as the Department of Licensing, Inspections and Permits, wrote a letter to Bonacuse that 605-607 Harrison Ave. and 647 Monroe Ave. were operating as illegal rooming homes. The department requested he apply for approval.

It's unclear if he did. Agendas for zoning hearing board meetings scheduled in the weeks after that letter do not reflect if the issue came up. The properties are not on a list of approved rooming homes which the city provided to the newspaper in a Right to Know Law request.

Bonacuse acknowledged he "was accused of running an illegal rooming house" but said the city's investigation found him in compliance.

Bonacuse said he provides a service to the community and to the local state parole office, with whom he cooperates. Parolees and sex offenders are "centrally located" rather than spread through the community and are easily accessible by their parole officers, he said. He also said his properties are in compliance with guidelines regarding sex offenders.

"There are not a lot of landlords who will rent to sex offenders, but they are still in need of a place to live," Bonacuse said.

The local parole office maintains a list of local landlords who are generally willing to rent to those under supervision. Bonacuse is on that list. Sherman was, but the office removed him because "the property did not meet minimum standards at the time," said Maria Bivens, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. Parolee supervision falls under the aegis of the DOC.

"If landlords reach out to us with available properties, we provide this information to potential reentrants for their information," Bivens said in an email. "With that said, the DOC must always require a potential parolee's reentry plan be 'adequate' and that there is no reasonable indication that the reentrant poses a risk to the public in his proposed home plan. State parole agents will always scrupulously investigate every home plan before it is approved."

Sherman said he was unaware he was ever on such a list but acknowledged he rents to sex offenders.

"I have a few, yes," Sherman said. "It's either that or they sleep on the street. It's better that they have a roof."

Not every landlord willing to rent to parolees will rent to sex offenders.

Michael Ford, of East Stroudsburg, has family who ran afoul of the law and said he would consider himself a hypocrite if he turned down people looking for a second chance. He agreed to rent to those who had difficulty finding housing because of their backgrounds. As word spread, a parole agent visited with Ford to check out his rentals.

However, Ford will not rent to child abusers, spousal abusers and sex offenders.

"All my places are by schools," Ford said. "I'm a grandfather. I wouldn't want someone that abused children next to my kids."

Pluko ended up renting from Bonacuse because he learned about the landlord through his parole officer. He said many other landlords did not want to rent to him because of his crime.

Pluko pleaded guilty to rape by forcible compulsion and aggravated indecent assault of a child for sexually abusing two other juveniles, records show.

Justin Sabin, of 647 Monroe Ave., also learned of Bonacuse when he was released to a state-run halfway house. He also pays $600 for a room in a building he said contains 12 rooms. Few want to give a sex offender a second chance, he said.

"I regret what I did," he said.

Lackawanna County Judge Trish Corbett, now the president judge, sentenced Pluko in November 2011, to 36 months to 10 years behind bars.

Pluko said he spent eight years locked up, first at State Correctional Institution — Pine Grove and then at a state prison in Forest County. Pluko tried to keep to himself. He achieved his high school diploma and kept to the prison library to read books

He's attending an online college now for business and is trying to save for an apartment.

Cpl. Brent Miller, a spokesman for the state police in Harrisburg, pointed in an email to information posted on the Megan's Law website stating specific offenders may have restrictions.

Those deemed sexually violent predators — a designation imposed by the courts after an evaluation by the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board — could be placed under court-ordered restrictions. Sexually violent predators are those convicted of a sexually violent offense who have a "mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes them likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses," according to the board.

"The Pennsylvania State Police monitors all Megan's Law registrants equally to ensure they are complying with their required court ordered registrations," Miller said in an email.

Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell said the purpose of Megan's Law is to inform to the public. He said he did not know of a case where a sex offender's proximity to a school caused issues, but added that agencies transitioning someone back to society after prison seek to safeguard the well-being of others.

In the mid-2000s, Scranton joined a patchwork of Pennsylvania communities that sought to restrict where sex offenders are allowed to live. In 2006, city council passed an ordinance that barred them from living within 2,500 of schools and many other places where children might congregate. Effectively, it left large swaths of the city off-limits.

Other ordinances in the state at the time were under question in the courts. Retired Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano, a captain at the time the ordinance passed, did not recall that anyone had been cited for a violation.

"I remember it always being in question," Graziano said.

The state Supreme Court invalidated the Allegheny County ordinance in 2011, finding that excluding all sex offenders from their communities, support systems, employment and treatment is contrary to the legislature's approach, which requires tailored assessments and rehabilitation.

The Allegheny County ordinance attempted to ensure public safety by isolating sex offenders in "localized penal colonies of sorts, without any consideration of the General Assembly's policies of rehabilitation and reintegration," then-Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille wrote.

Cutillo said the city is in the midst of a "top to bottom review" of the city code for local laws with antiquated language and outdated provisions. The ordinance restricting residency for sex offenders may be reviewed.

Pluko acknowledged his proximity to a school but said "it's hard to find places to live."

"I know I went to prison and I'm never gonna do something like that again," Pluko said. "They have nothing to worry about from me."

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.