Assault

Man arrested after laundry hamper assault in Wilkes-Barre domestic dispute

Assault incident on Hutson Street leads to arrest

WILKES-BARRE, PA — On April 30, 2025, at 5:41 p.m., police were dispatched to a residence on Hutson Street following reports of a domestic dispute. Officers arrived to find a Wilkes-Barre resident, a 30-year-old woman, who reported being assaulted by a man during an argument about money.

The woman, who described the assailant as 32-year-old Jeffrey Edouard, claimed that during the altercation, Edouard struck her multiple times with a closed fist. Additionally, he reportedly hit her repeatedly with a laundry hamper.

The victim was taken to a local hospital for medical treatment due to the injuries sustained during the assault. Police took Edouard into custody at the scene.

After being detained, Edouard was transported to City Headquarters for processing and arraignment. The nature of the charges against him was related to the domestic altercation.

The attack on Hutson Street resulted in a hospital trip for the victim and an arrest for Edouard.

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Luzerne County man charged with sexual assault of a minor

Luzerne County man charged with sexual assault of a minor

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Luzerne County man faces charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a child he communicated with through Facebook messages. Attorney General Dave Sunday announced the arrest and charges on Tuesday.

William James Christian Jr., a board member at the Lehigh & Keystone Valley Model Railroad Museum, was taken into custody on Tuesday. He is charged with multiple offenses, including unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault, and disseminating explicit sexual material to a minor.

Bail for Christian, 30, from Dupont, was set at $125,000 during his arraignment on Tuesday. As a condition of his bail, he is prohibited from having internet access, unsupervised contact with minors, and involvement with the model railroad museum.

“This defendant used a common interest — enthusiasm for trains — to groom and prey on a young person,” Attorney General Sunday stated. “The defendant is charged with soliciting sexual messages from the victim, and assaulting them, over a period of many months.”

Investigators revealed that Christian exchanged messages with a 15-year-old over a year. The messages varied from discussions about model trains to sexual comments and imagery. The physical assaults reportedly

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