Barton J. Weidlich
Weidlich confined to house
WILKES-BARRE - Barton J. Weidlich has been warned.
No drinking. No drugs. No leaving the house without the government's approval. Not even to take out the trash.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Malachy Mannion ran through the litany of restrictions as he granted Weidlich's release from jail Wednesday - five days after federal prosecutors charged the Pittston businessman with intimidating a Luzerne County corruption probe witness.
Weidlich, 40, will be placed on home confinement and is scheduled to be fitted Thursday morning with an electronic monitoring bracelet, Mannion said at a bail hearing Wednesday. If Weidlich is accused of any other crime or violates the other terms of his release, he will be sent back to jail at least until his trial, Mannion said.
According to federal prosecutors, Weidlich encouraged the witness to lie to a federal grand jury last month and later, after accusing the witness of cooperating with investigators, threatened the witness and asked, "How does it feel to be a rat?"
Weidlich made the threats during a pair of telephone conversations last Thursday, first asking about the witness' whereabouts and demanding a face-to-face meeting, and later inquiring about the health and safety of the witness' family, the prosecutors said.
The witness, who was not identified, "perceived the conversation to be a threat to the safety and welfare" of his or her family and alerted the FBI, federal prosecutors said.
"We take these matters very seriously in federal court," Mannion told Weidlich. "Federal court is like making it to the major leagues. Except, it's the worst place to make it to the major leagues."
Weidlich's attorney, David P. Clark, said Weidlich understood "the very serious nature of the charge of obstructing justice," and that the consequences of another witness intimidation allegation would be "10 times worse."
Weidlich started pressuring the witness last month after they were both subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury probing county corruption, prosecutors said.
Weidlich testified before the grand jury on Sept. 15, a week after federal agents seized county records belonging to former Luzerne County Manager/Chief Clerk Sam Guesto from a building Weidlich owns in Pittston. Guesto, a friend of Weidlich, resigned in January 2008 after it was disclosed he failed to document how he and six other county officials used county-issued debit cards to spend almost $42,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William S. Houser said he and Clark discussed the terms of release with federal probation officials after Mannion agreed to postpone Weidlich's bail hearing from Monday until Wednesday.
Weidlich, who served 68 days in a New Jersey prison for a 1995 cocaine possession conviction, must submit to random drug and alcohol testing and was required to provide a "baseline" urine sample before leaving federal custody.
"I don't accept the 'I couldn't go today,' excuse," Mannion said.
Weidlich may not leave the Elizabeth Street, Pittston home where he lives with his mother except for work, religious services, drug and alcohol testing and counseling and court appearances.
His movement was more severely restricted Wednesday night because the court's probation office was not able to hook up the electronic monitoring bracelet until Thursday at 9 a.m., Mannion said.
"Make no mistake, that means you don't even take the garbage out," Mannion said. "If you are seen outside the house, you will be back tomorrow inside a bigger house."
