Jury picked in Mayfield strip club case
Oct. 4—SCRANTON — Though plea negotiations remained ongoing Monday evening, attorneys selected a panel of seven men and seven women to hear a case against a former state trooper and three others accused of running an illegal gambling and prostitution organization out of a Mayfield strip club.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Erik Olsen updated Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse's staff earlier in the day that the case against ex-Trooper Robert E. Covington and the co-defendants may yet end in a deal. They told him the jury would be picked Monday and sworn in Tuesday should negotiations not end in a plea.
Jury selection concluded around 5 p.m. Barrasse did not immediately swear in the group.
Covington, 49, of Olyphant; David P. Klem, 41, Archbald; Michael P. Ball, 51, Dalton and Deanna E. Tallo, 33, Throop, are on trial for charges stemming from a statewide grand jury investigation into activities at the Sinners Swing Gentlemen's Club on Business Route 6.
In 2021, authorities alleged Covington and Klem, who were the club's owners, paid patrons who won playing illegal gambling machines and took money strippers earned performing sex acts on customers. Ball participated in gambling and Tallo worked at the club, investigators said.
Olsen, Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Adrian Shchuka and the four defense attorneys — Timothy Michael, who represents Ball; Frank Genovese, who represents Tallo; Brian McMonagle, who represents Klem; and Gregory Pagano, who represents Covington — peppered a room of 75 potential jurors with questions to weed them down to a panel of 12 with two alternates.
About four people acknowledged their objections to prostitution on religious, moral or ethical grounds would impact their judgement.
Pagano asked if Covington's status as a former state trooper would impact anyone's ability to decide the case; about seven hands went up.
"He should know better," said one woman.
"Thank you very much," Barrasse quickly said.
Three people said they knew Ball and one woman said she knew each of the defendants.
Should the case reach a plea deal, it would be for the second time.
In February, Covington pleaded guilty to allowing gambling in the club in 2018 and 2019 and statement under penalty for failing to account for his ownership interest in a state financial disclosure form. A 14-year veteran of the state police, he also resigned.
That same day, Klem also pleaded guilty to allowing gambling and promoting prostitution.
Ball later pleaded no contest to conspiracy to allow gambling.
In June, Covington and Klem withdrew their guilty pleas.
In a motion, Covington cited a new ruling by a Luzerne County judge in an unrelated case that gambling machines like the ones taken from the strip club are not "per se" gambling devices under state law. Barrasse said the court would not accept a recommended 11 1/2 - to 23-month sentence against Klem that could be served on house arrest.
In September, Ball also withdrew his plea.
The four now face trial on a raft of charges including corrupt organizations, promoting prostitution and conspiracy. Covington, Ball and Klem also face charges stemming from alleged illegal gambling and Covington additional faces charges for unsworn falsification and statement under penalty.
The jurors will return Tuesday morning.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.
