An Ashley man who had been accused of threatening to blow up the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in November entered a plea of no contest on Wednesday.
Joseph Adam Prednis, 55, appeared before Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough on Wednesday, entering a no contest plea on a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats.
A no contest plea means that the defendant does not officially admit guilt, but they acknowledge that prosecutors have enough evidence against them to convict. A no contest plea leads to a sentencing as if it were a guilty plea.
According to police, an employee at the medical facility’s call center told police that he made threatening statements, saying he was going to “Wack every one of you, just you see, you name the day and I’ll be there.”
An officer with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs called Prednis, who allegedly said “I don’t give a (expletive) who you are,” and threatened to “blow up the building,” before going on to say that he would “gut people” if officers did anything.
While in court on Wednesday, Prednis also entered no contest pleas on misdemeanor counts of simple assault and terroristic threats in another case. In that unrelated case, Ashley police allege he swung a machete at a woman outside his apartment on Nov. 6, 2019.
Vough set Prednis’ sentencing for Aug. 11 in both cases. Until then, he will be locked up at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, as Vough revoked his bail.
___
(c) 2021 The Times Leader
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
