Wayne County District Attorney A.G. Howell announced today the arrest of John Russo, 35, of Scranton, PA, with six counts of Terroristic Threats, all graded as a misdemeanor 1st degree, six counts of Stalking, all graded as a misdemeanor 1st degree and six counts of Harassment, all graded as a misdemeanor 3rd degree.
According to the Police Criminal Complaint Affidavit of Probable Case filed by the Wayne County Detectives, the incident stems from Russo sending the victim two text messages. One message read "I'm going to kill u" and the other message read "I'm really going to murder you. I'm not even kidding stay far away from me, for ur own safety. If I see you, u will die….Right before wedding to… what a great story for the Scranton times". Russo also left the victim four voicemail messages, stating that he was on his way to the victim’s residence to murder them and gut the victim like a pig. The victim fled their residence and stayed at different residence for the week.
An arrest warrant was issued for Russo on September 22, 2023 and he was subsequently taken into custody shortly thereafter. He was housed at the Wayne County Correctional Facility and a preliminary arraignment was held on September 23, 2023 by Magisterial District Judge Kay Bates. Russo was arraigned and released on $1,000.00 unsecured bail. His Central Court date was set for September 27, 2023 at 9:00 am.