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SCRANTON — When Louis Elmy could no longer afford paying for crack cocaine, the former county prison counselor and one-time Wilkes-Barre Area School Board president traded off his personal firearms to drug dealers to feed his addiction, federal prosecutors said Thursday at Elmy’s plea hearing.
Elmy, 51, of Nicholson Street, Wilkes-Barre, entered a guilty plea on one count each of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and extortion at the William J. Nealon Federal Building. He was released under supervision of the court.
A sentencing will be scheduled at a later date, but Elmy faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life in prison on the gun charge and up to 20 years behind bars on the extortion charge, prosecutors said.
He declined to comment on the plea following the hearing.
Ingrid S. Cronin, Elmy’s court-appointed attorney, said she and Elmy discussed the evidence in the case several times and stated he “wishes to accept responsibility for the mistakes he’s made.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Olshefski detailed the crack cocaine addiction that she said led Elmy to trade firearms for drugs. She said Elmy, a former Luzerne County Correctional Facility work release counselor, began buying crack cocaine in or around 2013 through a woman who was poised to testify against him if the case went to trial.
When Elmy’s crack cocaine addiction grew too costly, he turned to selling guns to dealers to obtain the drug, Olshefski said, noting that in one instance, Elmy sawed off the barrels of two shotguns to make the weapons more enticing to the buyer.
“He knew that drug dealers liked smaller firearms in order to conceal them,” Olshefski said.
In another exchange, Elmy traded a .380 caliber handgun for $200 worth of crack cocaine, she added.
Elmy then began extorting cash and alcohol from an inmate, who he supervised in the work release program, in exchange for special treatment and unauthorized time outside the program, Olshefski said. The inmate, who also helped Elmy obtain controlled substances, was also prepared to testify against Elmy, she added.
“That’s just a summary of the evidence,” Olshefski said.
Court documents said Elmy, a former Wilkes-Barre Area School Board president, doctored court orders and preyed on inmates’ financial hardships in his bid to extort them.
He created phony court orders that had judges’ signatures physically pasted on them from older orders, then photocopied the fraudulent order for the file so the paperwork appeared legitimate, according to the criminal information. He resigned from the prison after the charges surfaced, following a nearly 30-year career at the Water Street facility.
U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik said he was “sorry” about the circumstances surrounding Elmy’s plea.
“You had a good job,” Kosik said. “It’s a horrible thing you did with the responsibility you had.”
Prosecutors said the extortion scheme was allegedly carried out for nearly three years, beginning in November 2013 and concluding following Elmy’s arrest on drug and weapons charges in February.
During a failed campaign for a city council seat last year, Elmy vowed to work with law enforcement to battle drug pushers. He said his goals included building strong relationships with federal, state and local law enforcement to “combat the out-of-control drug trade” in Wilkes-Barre neighborhoods, he said.
“The citizens and businesses of Wilkes-Barre deserve to feel safe in their homes and shops and on their streets,” Elmy said last year.