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A West Scranton man assaulted his ex-girlfriend and damaged property in her apartment, according to city police.
Andrew Gorba, 29, 118 St. Frances Cabrini Ave., was arraigned Wednesday by Magisterial District Judge Kipp Adcock on felony charges of burglary and criminal trespassing, and misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats, simple assault, loitering and criminal mischief.
Police responded to the 1000 block of Jackson Street on Friday for a reported burglary. A woman at the apartment, Stacey Jessup, informed officers someone broke into her daughter-in-law’s apartment and she was bleeding and lying on the floor for around three hours.
Officers found the woman, Frances Alverio, on the floor with injuries to her right hand and legs, and blood in the living room. Alverio told police while being evaluated by emergency medical services she went to a man’s residence after work and he assaulted her, took her phone and money and left, returning about 20 minutes later to return the stolen items, Officers Jill Foley and Melissa Forsette wrote in a criminal complaint. Alverio said she didn’t recall how she returned to her apartment or sustained her injuries.
Alverio told Forsette later that afternoon she was working at Bubba Jays Bar the previous evening and Gorba, her ex-boyfriend, was cooking. Alverio said Gorba was getting jealous of her talking to other people at the bar after getting off work. They started arguing about it and Alverio told him she was going home but Gorba refused to give Alverio her purse, according to the complaint.
Alverio told Forsette she left with Gorba and he said he would give her the purse if she went to his house. When they got to the house, Alverio said they began arguing again and Gorba was “roughing” her until his roommate intervened. Gorba eventually gave Alverio her phone and purse and she left.
When she went to her apartment, she found her front door unlocked and her television damaged, according to the complaint. Alverio returned to Gorba’s home, confronted him, and while doing so she hit the window on his front porch with her arm. She returned to her apartment to discover the entire apartment destroyed and her bedroom window smashed out. Alverio also told police she made $130 that night and returned home with $27. She later called Jessup, and Jessup called 911.
Gorba told Foley they left the bar early that morning and went to his home. Alverio told him she lost her keys and left his home, but after 45 minutes, he saw her sitting across the street covered in blood and she said she couldn’t find the keys. Officers found blood in his home during a search, which Gorba told them was from a cut he got while working, and also told them Alverio broke his porch window.
Alverio told police Saturday she tried to express to Gorba on Friday she was no longer interested in a relationship with him, but could hang out and be friends. She said he didn’t accept it and while arguing, he put her in a headlock, grabbed a handgun, put it to his head, then put it in his mouth, the complaint reads. Gorba also pushed her and banged the back of her head against the ground for about five minutes, it adds, stopping when his roommate forced him to.
Adcock set bail at $50,000, which Gorba was unable to post. He was taken to the Lackawanna County Prison, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 23.
Police said restitution for the victim and property owner is more than $1,000.
