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WILKES-BARRE —Vito DeLuca has practiced law for most of his opponent’s life.

And in more than 20 years as an attorney, the Democrat challenger for Luzerne County District Attorney has worked in criminal defense and served as chief county solicitor, law clerk to two county judges and solicitor to two school districts, a housing authority and a number of municipalities.

Incumbent DA Stefanie Salavantis previously criticized DeLuca’s history as a defense attorney, but DeLuca insists he has the trial experience Salavantis lacks.

“To see basically an individual who had graduated from law school a year and a half to two years prior to taking that office — the office of the chief law enforcement officer of the county — is insulting to, I believe, anyone who has ever practiced criminal law,” he said Thursday at a meeting with the Times Leader’s Opinion Board.

He said he agrees with Salavantis’s assessment of the DA’s role as a more administrative one than an in-court position, but he said he believes trial experience is necessary to effectively manage prosecutors. DeLuca said he would try cases himself if elected DA.

DeLuca since at least April has trained much of his campaign rhetoric on criticisms and allegations aimed at Salavantis, many of which she challenges in both local and social media.

In recent weeks, DeLuca alleged Salavantis has refused requests to debate him in a public forum despite attempts to schedule one. Salavantis responded, saying a scheduling conflict prevented her from appearing at the first suggested date, and efforts were ongoing to settle a more agreeable time.

A forum hosted by the League of Women Voters has been scheduled for later this week. DeLuca said he believes he put pressure on Salavantis and forced her to accept the debate by going to local media.

DeLuca also has claimed Salavantis used office resources to pull case files as campaign research against him. Salavantis denied the allegation.

A more recent talking point for DeLuca focuses on a number of disapproved cases, which he said Salavantis’s office dismissed in court orders.

Salavantis said the cases were dismissed after municipal police officers failed multiple times to appear for multiple “write-up sessions,” during which arresting officers are required to be present to discuss the cases with prosecutors.

“That’s ridiculous and in fact that’s not true,” DeLuca said.

Officers do not need to be physically present for the sessions, he said, and higher ranking officers often appear to handle multiple cases in place of multiple arresting officers.

Salavantis said the reintroduction in 2016 of the central court system should eliminate the need for write-up sessions.

But according to DeLuca, the disapprovals reveal a larger lack of checks and balances in the district attorney’s office. Three of the disapprovals signed by Salavantis’s First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce, he said, dismissed cases in which defense attorneys affiliated with a private law firm with which Sanguedolce is associated represented the defendants.

Salavantis defended her First ADA, saying the attorneys are not associated with Sanguedolce’s firm, but only share space in the same building.

Another issue DeLuca raised involves some 400 warrants which have gone unexecuted during Salavantis’s tenure.

“That has nothing to do with my office,” Salavantis said, saying the warrants are the responsibility of the county Sheriff’s Department.

DeLuca suggested the DA is not putting enough pressure on the department — which he said he believes to be understaffed — to see the warrants are served.

He also took issue with county detectives’ arrest numbers. He said the department of 11 detectives averages about 10 arrests each month, and though he said he understands the detectives do not work as primary investigators on many cases, he characterized the statistics as “low” and “unacceptable.”

Salavantis disputed DeLuca’s assessment, calling it indicative of “gross ignorance.”

“The detectives in this or any agency are investigators, and thorough investigations take time,” she said.

Among those investigations are long-term probes into embezzlement and child pornography.

Salavantis also said the county employs nine detectives, not 11.

If elected in early November, DeLuca said he would spend his first six months in the post fixing the “craziness” he says is rampant in the office — a consequence, he said, of having an inexperienced DA.

“I don’t think you have to tell anyone that they’re not safe in the cities in Luzerne County anymore. I believe that they wake up every day and they feel unsafe,” he said.

He promised to take collaborative and proactive approaches to not only prosecuting crime, but also to preventing crime with community outreach and truancy programs.

Through alternative sentencing, he said he would work to keep non-violent offenders from becoming violent offenders.

DeLuca promised also to reach out to the county’s growing Spanish-speaking community. He said he learned as a defense attorney that a client cannot be adequately represented through an interpreter, and believes the same to be true from the prosecution side.

He said he has travelled twice to Mexico to learn Spanish.

Between June 9 and Oct. 19, DeLuca reported spending $25,359 through his campaign committee Vito DeLuca for District Attorney — just less than a quarter of what his opponent reported spending.

He spent most of the total on television advertisement, paying out more than $19,000 to local television stations, according to finance documents. Meanwhile video production cost the campaign $1,590, paid to Video Innovations in Plymouth.

For the production of his website, DeLuca paid $420 to Darling Graphic Design, of Dallas, his report says. Campaign signage cost $312, paid to Fast Signs in Wilkes-Barre.

Carrying from a previous report only $9,180, the candidate reported total available funds of $105,795 for the period, a comparable if smaller sum to Salavantis’s roughly $130,000.

DeLuca is his campaign’s largest contributor, according to expense forms, as documents indicate he has donated $87,787 to his bid for DA. The most recent contribution of $75,000 is dated Oct. 19, sending him into the race’s final weeks with more than $80,000 in reserve.

Union contributions to DeLuca’s campaign came from the Harrisburg-based, Pennsylvania chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employee (AFSCME), which donated $1,000, and also from Local 44 Sheet Metal Workers in Wilkes-Barre, which donated $300.

Most other donations to DeLuca’s campaign amounted to less than $250 each, coming in large part from area attorneys, including former county district attorney Jackie Musto Carroll, who donated $200.

Luzerne County District Attorney candidate Vito DeLuca speaks Thursday with the Times Leader’s Opinion Board.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL102315VitoDeLuca1.jpg.optimal.jpgLuzerne County District Attorney candidate Vito DeLuca speaks Thursday with the Times Leader’s Opinion Board. Clark Van Orden | Times Leader

By James O’Malley

[email protected]

Vito DeLuca

Party: Democrat

Age: 47

Education: University of Pittsburgh School of Law, King’s College

Reach James O’Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.