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Charges Dropped Against Former Lackawanna County Corrections Officer

SCRANTON, Pa. — One of seven former Lackawanna County corrections officers accused of sexually assaulting inmates had his charges dropped by prosecutors l...

SCRANTON, Pa. -- One of seven former Lackawanna County corrections officers accused of sexually assaulting inmates had his charges dropped by prosecutors last week.

Former corrections officer Paul Voglino had his sexual assault charged dropped on Friday, marking the end of his case. There's now been a resolution for four of the seven corrections officers charged by the state attorney general's office. None of them was a clear win for the state.

On Valentine's Day of 2018, Paul Voglino was one of seven Lackawanna County corrections officers charged with sexually assaulting inmates. Voglino was accused of having sex with an inmate in the early 2000s. Last Friday, state prosecutors dropped the charge against him.

Voglino's defense attorney Joe DeAndrea said it was the only outcome he'd accept.

"His life has changed. Hopefully, we get him his job back quite shortly and he can be feeding his family again because he's been unemployed for over a year and a half," DeAndrea said.

This end to Voglino's case marks the fourth resolution for one of the corrections officers; not one of them was a conviction.

Earlier this year, George McHale was acquitted at trial.

Two other officers pleaded no contest to lesser charges, meaning they don't admit guilt but are sentenced as if they were.

"I just remember the press conference that the attorney general himself came in and he was lined up with a whole bunch of state police and a whole bunch of prosecutors and he said, he vowed to purge the county of their ills, the county jail of their ills. He vowed to prosecute these to the fullest extent of the law. I know right now we have an acquittal, we have two minor nolo contendere pleas of minor misdemeanors, we have a dismissal in Paul's case, and who knows what's going to happen on the others."

Cases against three former corrections officers are still pending. We reached out to officials with the state attorney general's office for comment on dropping the charges against Paul Voglino. We have not heard back.

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