OLD FORGE, Pa. — Former Old Forge Borough Council President Robert Semenza was in court Tuesday morning to plead guilty to a federal bribery charge.
Semenza, 47, admitted in court that he took cash bribes from a business owner in exchange for a promise that he would use his influence as council president to advocate for and vote on that business owner's behalf.
Prosecutors say between January 2019 and February 2020, Semenza and an unnamed conspirator solicited bribes from the business owner, who was being fined and sued by the borough for zoning ordinance disputes.
Semenza and that conspirator covered up the payments as loans to make them appear legitimate.
The business owner and the company are not named in court papers but Semenza was taking those bribes during the same time the owner of Scrap Enterprises in Old Forge was taken to court several times by the borough for operating an illegal junkyard.
"This is a heavy burden on Mr. Semenza. He is from Old Forge his whole life. His family is from Old Forge his whole life. When he took the position, he took it very seriously and it was a heavy responsibility. There's some things that happened that I cannot get into right now, but I will at the appropriate time, that led him down this path. Heavy burden on his shoulder, he wants the people of Old Forge to know that he knows he let them down. He's going to try to make amends the best way he can, but today is the first step in doing that by officially accepting responsibility on the record," said Semenza's attorney Jason Mattioli.
People we spoke to in the borough, most of whom did not want to speak on camera, said they were happy that Semenza was being held to account but were not at all shocked about the corruption happening in their community.
"It doesn't surprise me. Everybody lies, everybody does stuff. They do bad things, and if you do bad things, you should do your time," Linda Wilson said.
Semenza faces a maximum of 10 years in prison but with the plea deal, prosecutors will recommend a 2-to 3-year reduction in his sentence.
Semenza had to resign from his position as council president as part of the plea deal. He already had done so at the end of May.