Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who is vying for Congress, once put a man with a criminal history on the city’s Human Relations Commission who later committed crimes while serving in that post.
Cognetti, the Democratic nominee to take on Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), appointed Mike Villa to the commission, which is tasked with fielding complaints from people who allege discrimination.
Just last month, Villa was hit with a 10-month prison sentence as well as 38 months of probation for trespassing on a local high school during his time serving on the commission.
At the local high school, Villa had what has been described as a mental health crisis and demanded a tour of the facility, which prompted a lockdown due to administrators’ uncertainty over what he was going to do.
He was then brought to Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he threw a phone at a security guard. Villa was also hit with charges for aggravated assault as well as simple assault and harassment.
After that incident, Villa was then booted off the nine-member commission. But Villa had a history of other run-ins with the law before that debacle.
Before he landed the commission role, Villa was slapped with a charge for drunk driving before his appointment to the commission. He had a 5-month-old child in the car with him at the time.
About a month after landing his appointment to the commission, Villa was arrested for fleeing police and trespassing. Later, he was detained for disorderly conduct in a city hotel.
That arrest came on the day of his first meeting at the commission.
In August of 2023, the former Scranton City Human Relations Commissioner had been sentenced to six months of probation for resisting arrest, attempting to elude an officer and defiant trespassing, records show.
Villa remained on the commission until last year despite all of those episodes.
While Villa was vetted, Scranton didn’t screen for criminal backgrounds until early 2024, according to City Solicitor Jessica Eskra. A city council member said last year that it was the administration’s responsibility to vet appointees.
When asked for comment, Cognetti’s team referred The Post to Eskra’s remarks last year about Villa’s removal when news broke of his trespassing at a local high school.
“The Mayor was notified that an inactive member of the city’s Human Relations Committee was involved in an incident that’s been described as a mental health crisis,” Eskra said at the time.
“Prior to the unacceptable events of last week, the City Administration was made aware in late August that Mr. Villa had abandoned his position with the Human Relations Commission, as he had not participated in the Commission in two years, and has begun the process to remove him.”
Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District race is ranked a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. Bresnahan won the seat in 2024, flipping it from former Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.)
