C. Cromer -

WILKES-BARRE — A jury on Wednesday found Christine Cromer guilty on all counts related to making false allegations of being raped by troopers.

The Plains Township woman, 38, was on trial this week on two charges of false reports and a single count of unsworn falsification after investigators said she falsely accused two separate state troopers of raping her at the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino, where she was a waitress.

Closing arguments wrapped up around 11:30 a.m.

Cromer was the defense’s only witness on Wednesday morning, insisting her story was true, in spite of numerous glaring inconsistencies.

During cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Angela Sperrazza, Cromer said she was considering leaving her husband for Trooper Robert Covington, who was assigned to work at the casino. Covington is the first of the two troopers Cromer accused; she later recanted and claimed it was Sgt. Daniel Jones who had raped her, taking out a PFA against him.

Cromer told Sperrazza that she never told anyone, not even friends, about her plan to leave her husband.

Sperrazza focused on what is perhaps the most major of the inconsistencies in her story — that Cromer claimed she was raped in the front seat of a police cruiser, adding that the seat was a bench-style seat, but the cruiser in question had two separate front seats with a large radio console in between.

Cromer maintained that she was raped on a bench-style seat, but stopped short of claiming the car had been modified in some way.

“I’m saying this happened in a car with a bench seat,” she said. “That’s not the seat.”

After Cromer left the stand, Luzerne County Detective Charles Balogh was once again called to the stand by Sperrazza. Balogh’s second round of testimony — he had taken the stand on Tuesday — was once again punctuated by combat with defense attorney Joseph Sklarosky Sr.

Balogh, who was the initial lead of the investigation into Cromer’s rape allegations, said there were numerous elements of Cromer’s story that he was only just now hearing for the first time.

One of those elements was a necklace she presented as alleged physical evidence of an ongoing romantic relationship between Cromer and Covington. Cromer claimed the necklace was a gift from Covington, but Balogh said it had never been mentioned before.

On cross examination, Sklarosky focused on a moment in an interview between Cromer and state police investigators. In the interview, troopers, were brought in one by one. Balogh said this was a request from Cromer, but Sklarosky characterized it as a line-up.

After Sklarosky repeatedly asked about the alleged line-up, Sperrazza objected, saying the subject had been asked and answered. When Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough sustained her objection, Sklarosky shouted, “I see what’s going on here.”

During his closing argument, Sklarosky further expounded on this, suggesting the whole investigation was merely an attempt to cover up Cromer’s allegations.

“As soon as Christine made her charge … they started to circle the wagons,” he said. Sklarosky took this claim a step further, saying, “I think there’s a skunk in the woodpile here and some snakes in the grass.”

Sklarosky wrote off the inconsistencies in Cromer’s story as a natural response of a woman who was afraid, being unable to remember things. Instead, he suggested Balogh failed to do a proper investigation after the first signs of inconsistencies.

“Ladies and gentlemen, they didn’t want to find anything, that’s why they didn’t do anything,” he told the jury. “Keep those wagons circled.”

Sklarosky also suggested Cromer accusing Jones was just a case of bad eyesight. Sklarosky said he told her to get her eyes checked and she found she needed glasses, which she was wearing throughout proceedings this week.

Sperrazza, though, said Cromer’s story simply doesn’t make sense.

“These are red flags, the kind that make investigators say, ‘Wait a minute,’” she said.

The prosecutor highlighted a lengthy interview police had with Cromer that had been played on Tuesday in court. The tape clocked in at nearly two hours long, and Sperrazza had an explanation for that.

“It’s because she’s talking in circles,” she said.

Sperrazza said that, when jurors went into the jury room to deliberate, they would see that every element of Cromer’s story was a lie.

“All of it’s false,” she said, adding she was sure the defendant would be found guilty.

Guilty verdict

After the jurors returned, it was clear they believed Sperrazza’s version of events.

Vough set sentencing for June 7. Sperrazza asked for Cromer’s bail to be revoked, noting Cromer committed felony drug charges while on bail for these charges, which she since pleaded guilty to. Vough denied her motion, though, allowing bail to remain in place.

After the verdict was read, Sklarosky expressed disappointment in the verdict.

“I think the thing that hurt us that she filed that PFA against Sgt. Jones,” he said. “That hurt us tremendously; that was hard to overcome.”

Sperrazza said the prosecution team would be asking for a sentence in the aggravated range.

“This isn’t just a false report of some innocuous information; it’s a rape,” she said. “And it stopped two law enforcement officers from being able to do their job.”

In light of the verdict, a press release from District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis encouraged people to still come forward with sexual assault allegations.

“The overwhelming majority of sexual assault complaints are legitimate and reported in good faith by victims,” Salavantis wrote. “No one should use the unique circumstances of this case to delegitimize victims of rape and sexual assault.”

C. Cromer https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Cromer.fromFox56CMYK-4.jpg C. Cromer

By Patrick Kernan [email protected]

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan