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Pennsylvania Anchor Being Investigated for Assaulting a Woman

Here's a story you won't see on WNEP in Scranton.... 

State police have confirmed they are investigating WNEP’s Jim Hamill for the alleged assault of a Wilkes-Barre woman at his home. 

Trooper Mark Keyes said Honesdale Borough Police responded to the incident, reported to have occurred last Saturday night at the Hamill's residence that he shares with his wife, Honesdale Mayor Melody Robinson.

Borough police passed the case to state police due to a conflict of interest, he said, noting the investigation is in its early stages and no interviews have been conducted.

“We’re in the process of starting that,” Keyes said.

The Times Leader says that the couple’s attorney, Brendan Ellis, said there have been no new developments in the case. He has yet to see the allegations.

“Once that’s done I think we’ll have a lot more to say,” he said, “but we have to wait for that.”

The newspaper the Wayne Independent reported the alleged victim — identified as 37-year-old Sara Katrenicz of Wilkes-Barre — told officers Hamill assaulted her inside his home on East Street. 

Hamill, a Honesdale native, has worked at WNEP since 2006 and has been weekend anchor since 2013, according to a profile page on the station’s website.

He did not return a phone call and email message seeking comment.

WNEP News Director Carl R. Abraham said the station had no comment at this time.

Borough officers took a statement from Katrenicz at about 2 a.m. at the Wayne Memorial Hospital, according to the report. Further details, however, were unclear.

Multiple efforts to reach Katrenicz were also unsuccessful, but the woman wrote in a Facebook post Sunday she was “feeling okay” and “will be taking the necessary steps to make sure justice prevails.” She thanked friends for their support.

“Violence against anyone is unacceptable,” she wrote. “Violence against women is cowardly.”

Told of Katrenicz’s comments on Facebook, the couple’s attorney Ellis said he was “glad the woman is feeling well and we look forward to working to conclude this thing.”

It could not be determined Thursday what Katrenicz’s relationship was to Hamill and Robinson, but a 2011 Times Leader report says she was flower girl in the couple’s wedding in October 2010 in Lewisburg.

Robinson did not respond to multiple messages left Thursday, but told the Wayne Independent she and her husband “are fully cooperating with an investigation being conducted by (state police).”

“We have already provided written statements and expect to be interviewed by the investigator,” she said in a statement to the newspaper. “Until the investigation is finished, and out of respect for my friend’s privacy, I won’t be able to comment further.”

Robinson’s Facebook page says she lives with her son and husband, James, in the borough, where she was elected as its first female mayor in November.


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