A Coal Township man was found not guilty Aug. 30 of assaulting his estranged wife in Philadelphia in July.
During a trial before Senior Judge Felice Rowley Stack in the Municipal Court of Philadelphia County, Stanley E. Romanoski, 41, of 1476 Trevorton Road, was found not guilty of misdemeanors of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
Romanoski, who was represented by Attorney William J. Reilly, of Philadelphia, was arrested by Philadelphia Officer Joseph J. Staszak in connection with a domestic dispute that occurred at 4:45 p.m. July 6 at the alleged victim's home in the Rhawnhurst section of northeast Philadelphia. Romanoski was charged with assaulting his estranged wife, Debra Romanoski, from whom he has been separated since 2009.
"He was innocent of the charges brought against him," Reilly said Thursday. "She claimed Stanley assaulted her and police took her word for it and filed the charges. There wasn't much of an investigation done. But the judge saw through it."
He said the case is now closed.
Following his arrest, Romanoski was set free in Philadelphia after posting 10 percent of his $1,500 bail, but was taken into custody five days later, July 11, in Northumberland County and spent the next 23 days in jail. Authorities said the charges filed in Philadelphia represented a violation of Romanoski's supervised probation for a 2010 incident in which he was charged by Coal Township police with assaulting Les Bloom, 61, of Catawissa, co-owner and operator of Bloom Heating and Oil, Tharptown, at his business.
Romanoski, who was an employee with Duke Heating Oil in Weigh Scales at the time, pleaded no contest to simple assault in the Coal Township case and was sentenced by Northumberland County President Judge Robert B. Sacavage to 24 months of intermediate punishment, with the first 30 days served on house arrest.
Romanoski told police he went to Bloom's business to confront him about allegations Bloom was stealing customers from Duke, which filed for bankruptcy later in 2010.
During a revocation hearing before Sacavage on Aug. 2, Romanoski pleaded no contest to violating his parole for the domestic incident in Philadelphia. Romanoski was sentenced by Sacavage to time served for his past 23 days in prison and 23 months of probation, based on the recommendation of the county adult probation office. He was released the next day.
Romanoski was ordered to have supervision when exchanging his children with his estranged wife, since the alleged domestic incident occurred during an exchange. He was also required to undergo stress and anger management counseling.
It is not known if the ruling in the Philadelphia trial changes those conditions.
Attorney Paige Rosini represented Romanoski at the revocation hearing.
In February 2011, at which time Romanoski was still affiliated with Duke Heating Oil, the state Department of Public Welfare (DPW) said it received approximately 50 complaints over three weeks about the company. Customers who were part of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) accused Duke Heating of not delivering fuel oil despite being paid for it by the state. That prompted DPW to recommend customers receiving public assistance for their heating oil not use Duke.