Boy, 16, charged in Nanticoke shooting to remain jailed at an adult facility

Ed Lewis, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·1 min read

May 3—WILKES-BARRE — A 16-year-old boy currently charged as an adult for his alleged role in a drive-by shooting that seriously injured a 14-year-old boy in Nanticoke will remain jailed at the Lackawanna County Prison.

A review hearing on the jail placement of James Alberto Jr. was held before Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough on Friday.

Vough asked Alberto if he is attending educational classes and being kept away from adult inmates. Alberto said he is attending classes and is housed from older inmates at the Lackawanna County Prison.

Assistant District Attorney Julian Truskowski said efforts to find a placement for Alberto in a juvenile detention facility has been unsuccessful.

Alberto has been housed at the Lackawanna County Prison since his arrest by the Pennsylvania State Police at Wilkes-Barre in September for the shooting that injured another juvenile in the area of West Green and Maple streets, Nanticoke, on July 21, 2023.

Investigators in court records say Alberto was a passenger in a stolen 2014 Hyundai Elantra allegedly driven by a 16-year-old boy from Wyoming Borough.

Alberto reached out the car window and fired multiple shots, striking the victim in the head and ankle, court records say.

Investigators in court records believe the 14-year-old boy was targeted in retaliation as Alberto believed he made disrespectful comments about a deceased infant.

After the shooting, the Hyundai was set on fire in Plymouth.

Alberto is charged with criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, reckless burning, arson and theft.