Pocono News Section

Man Arrested in Monroe County Raid asks for Leniency

Man Arrested in Monroe County Raid asks for Leniency - Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 04:06AM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Sunday May 02 2010
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TUNKHANNOCK TOWNSHIP, MONROE COUNTY - A Monroe County man claims police were over the top when they stormed his Tunkhannock Township home Friday and arrested him for illegally carrying a weapon.

The convicted felon is not allowed to have a gun. He's on house arrest while awaiting court hearings.
Frank Dimaio could spend the rest of his life in prison. He said,"I don't want my life to be a total washout."

Frank wasted much of his early life. He was a cocaine addict. He violently robbed people to feed his habit.

His crimes caught up with him. He spent twenty years behind bars.
Frank said he never committed another crime. Until he brought a gun into the Albrightsville post office. Someone saw it tucked in his pants. He remarked,
"I never thought in a million years that that would happen with the gun."

Eyewitness News asked him if he realized bringing the gun into the post office was wrong. He answered, "Yes! I do! There's no doubt."

Frank claims it was all a naive mistake. He told us his wife left her gun on the table on her way out of the house. He continued,"I grab the gun. I put it in my waistband - to bring it down to the car to give it to her."

He said he then forgot to give her the weapon. He blames memory loss brought on by medications and complications from a variety of illnesses, including a stroke, cancer and HIV. He said,"If i was thinking right i would have never walked in there."

Frank told Eyewitness News he went in and out of this post office several times after that gun incident nobody ever questioned him or mentioned anything about it. He remarked,"Nobody said nothing. A whole month went by."

Then on friday a special forces team surrounded his house. And officers arrested him. He said,"They came here like as if Osama Bin Laden was in here."

He said he would have turned himself in if an officer knocked on his door. He explained,"I'm not violent. A ten year old kid could beat me up."

But based on Frank's long and violent criminal history officers had to take precautions. Frank argued,"They are not dealing with the same person i was thirty years earlier."

He only expects to live a few more years. Carrying the illegal weapon could send him to prison for ten.
He hopes a judge will hear his plea. He sighed,"Just let me finish out my life with some dignity."

The Pocono Mountain Regional Police Chief said police were right in using a SWAT team. He explained there is a mandatory formula that the department uses to calculate risks. Based on Frank's extensive criminal history - and recent possession of a gun -- confronting him was considered to be extremely dangerous.

The chief also explained why there was a month between the gun sighting and the arrest.

The US Postal Service was in charge of the investigation. It likely took that much time to make sure they had the right person and look into his background.