A 41-year-old Jessup man provided alcohol to a 17-year-old girl, police charge.
Thomas Mancuso, of 313 Dolph St., faces charges of corrupting a minor and providing alcohol to someone under 18.
According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 21, Detective Peter Petrucci of the Blakely Police Department received a report of child abuse from the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office via ChildLine.
The report stated multiple teenagers were sleeping at a residence, where a man allegedly had sex with a teenage girl.
The girl, now 18, said she met Mancuso in June on Snapchat, when he lived in Peckville.
Just weeks later, he moved to Jessup, and she would go to his residence, where he would provide vodka to her.
She told officers she was having problems at home during the summer of 2025.
She showed Blakely police officers a Facebook message she sent to Mancuso saying, “Could you possibly please get me some alcohol and I keep it in my back pack and I drink in the basement I know not to give anyone … “
Mancuso didn’t respond to the message.
The girl admitted to having consensual sex with Mancuso when she was 17. The legal age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, according to Petrucci.
The girl told officers she stopped talking to Mancuso in November because things got better at home.
During an interview Jan. 23, Mancuso said he thought the girl was 18 when he met her.
He said she would come to his house drunk, and he was under the impression that her mother provided her with alcohol, but didn’t know for sure.
Mancuso remains at the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Feb. 11 before District Judge Joanne Corbett.