{"id":42903,"date":"2021-06-08T13:25:29","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T20:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42903"},"modified":"2021-06-08T13:25:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T20:25:29","slug":"former-police-officer-charged-with-soliciting-sex-in-exchange-for-favors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42903","title":{"rendered":"Former Police Officer Charged with Soliciting Sex in Exchange for Favors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"node-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong>SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-pr-body field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u00a0Thomas McDonald, age 47, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was charged with a federal bribery violation, officials announced this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">According to Acting United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the charge alleges that McDonald, while working as a police officer for the Scranton Police Department in April 2018, corruptly solicited for his own benefit, sex, and sexual favors from Person #1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">This solicitation intended to influence official actions of the Scranton Police Department and the City of Scranton, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 1px solid #e6e6e6;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wnep.com\/embeds\/video\/523-1c666886-6abc-414b-b8fa-c6a9b1dc27bb\/iframe\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">It is also alleged that McDonald\u2019s related conduct also included felony bribery violations with respect to Persons #2 through #4.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Federal officials didn&#8217;t give details about the crime that McDonald allegedly committed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u201cThe activities alleged today are a serious divergence from the oath Thomas McDonald took to faithfully serve and protect the city of Scranton,\u201d said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI\u2019s Philadelphia Division. \u201cHe betrayed the people of his community and all of us who wear a badge and believe no one is above the law. The FBI will continue to root out corrupt law enforcement officers, on behalf of the vast majority of officers who carry out their duties honestly and honorably.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u201cI am as appalled and disappointed by this tragedy today as I was the day I first learned that a former member of our force grossly abused his authority, committing vile, repulsive acts,\u201d said Scranton\u2019s Police Chief, Superintendent Leonard Namiotka. \u201cMr. McDonald must pay the price for his crimes, like anyone else. If there is a bright spot, it is that since she came into office last year, Mayor Cognetti\u2019s uniformed services agenda has included making significant improvements to our department\u2019s internal processes and communications.\u00a0 Accomplishing that should go a long way towards providing earlier warning of issues like this going forward.\u00a0 But what may be most important right now is for Scrantonians to know that McDonald\u2019s actions are not at all representative of our well-trained, caring and dedicated police personnel, a group of men and women whose actions each and every day are proof that they live by the credo of protecting and serving our community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">McDonald was terminated from his position as a Scranton Police Officer in June 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">McDonald is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. His is facing up to 10 years in prison<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA \u00a0Thomas McDonald, age 47, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was charged with a federal bribery violation, officials announced this week. According to Acting United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the charge alleges&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Police Officer Charged with Soliciting Sex in Exchange for Favors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA \u00a0Thomas McDonald, age 47, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was charged with a federal bribery violation, officials announced this week.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42903\" \/>\n<meta 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