Walter Stocki Jr. sued Old Forge for $16.2 million, claiming his exposure of a bribery scheme seven years ago has led to selective zoning enforcement at his heavy-equipment businesses on Keyser Avenue.
Plaintiffs Stocki and Trion Equipment Sales LLC name as defendants the borough, Zoning Officer Michael Sokolowsky, Solicitor William Rinaldi and potentially up to eight, as-yet-unnamed people identified as John Does for legal placeholder purposes. The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court is the latest development in a long-running legal battle.
The borough has not yet responded in court to the lawsuit and efforts Monday to reach the defendants were unsuccessful.
Contempt order on appeal
The lawsuit follows a contempt order against Stocki issued in Lackawanna County Court on April 30 by Judge Terrence Nealon. The judge found Stocki in civil contempt of prior court orders to clear a scrap yard and adjacent properties, in what the judge termed a “judicial odyssey” and dispute between the borough and Stocki dating to 2017 and the subject since of protracted litigation.
Old Forge had cited Stocki and his business, Scrap Enterprises Inc., for operating an illegal junkyard at his property at 105 N. Keyser Ave. in Old Forge in violation of the borough zoning ordinance. Stocki maintained the business sells and rents heavy equipment, which is allowed under commercial highway zoning. The borough sought to have Stocki and his businesses found in contempt of a stipulated order from March 3, 2025, while Stocki sought a determination that his businesses had been in compliance. Nealon denied Stocki’s petition for a determination that he did comply with earlier court orders.
Nealon’s April 30 order also noted the “prolonged litigation saga, which involves the enforcement of zoning ordinance provisions against a commercial property owner and his business entities for more than 100 months, has featured 20 hearings and numerous conferences, legal defense representation by five separate law firms, the filing of four petitions for contempt resulting in two independent adjudications of contempt, the issuance of a bench warrant and the 2021 confinement of the property owner, appeals to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and the eventual retirement of the originally assigned judge.”
On May 29, Stocki filed a notice to appeal the contempt order to state Commonwealth Court.
Federal lawsuit cites prior bribery case
Now, Stocki has gone on the offensive against the borough with the lawsuit filed last week in federal court by the Clark Hill PLC law firm of Philadelphia.
Some of the details and claims in Stocki’s lawsuit include:
• Stocki owns and operates a heavy machinery parts, sales, service and repair business and Trion is the corporate entity that owns the property. They comply with zoning but the borough has “repeatedly mischaracterized” the use as zoning violations and “manufactured” violations, violating Stocki’s rights and making it virtually impossible for him to conduct business.
• Numerous other businesses nearby have identical or more intensive uses involving outdoor storage of machinery, auto parts and equipment, as well as a DPW facility. The borough has not conducted comparable enforcement with other businesses, despite their uses “apparent to the naked eye from the public roadway.” In the past 10 years, Stocki was the only one cited for zoning violations because of selective and weaponized enforcement.
• The defendants’ “improper, illegal” actions have been intentional, targeted and retaliatory because Stocki in 2019 “refused an attempt by defendants to extort money from his business, in exchange for favorable results in manufactured zoning matters.” James Peperno Jr. and former Old Forge Borough Council President Robert Semenza “devised a scheme to solicit bribes from Stocki in exchange for influencing manufactured zoning matters in Stocki’s favor.” Stocki went to the FBI. According to archives of The Times-Tribune, Stocki was a scrap yard owner snared in costly litigation with Old Forge who assisted the FBI by passing along serialized bills provided by the bureau. Peperno was sentenced in federal court in 2023 to six years of incarceration, after a jury found him guilty of passing $500 from Stocki to Semenza and of collecting $6,000 more. Semenza, who cooperated with the case and testified against Peperno, was sentenced to a year and a day of prison.
• A county court order in 2018 shut down Scrap Enterprises by early 2021. Stocki is no longer in the scrap business and later orders referencing a junkyard were unlawfully enforced. Prior orders referenced inoperable vehicles at Stocki businesses and required their removal, but vehicles needing repairs often are inoperable at that moment and not scrap. All vehicles on site were there to be repaired.
• The actions amounted to constructive eviction that forces Stocki to relocate, which will cost over $1 million.
• The four-count lawsuit claims violations of Stocki’s Fifth-, Eighth- and Fourteenth-Amendment rights; and that he has suffered monetary damages, reputational harm, loss and use of property, stress and mental anguish. He seeks $16,250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, a declaration of violations of civil rights, and attorneys fees and costs.
Walter Stocki, Jr., owner of Scrap Enterprises, looks on as The Honorable Thomas J. Munley tours his property which the court considers an illegal junkyard off Keyser Avenue in Old Forge on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Lackawanna County Judge Thomas J. Munley, left, listens on May 2, 2019 as Scrap Enterprises owner Walter Stocki Jr. speaks during a tour of what the court considers an illegal junkyard off Keyser Avenue in Old Forge. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
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Walter Stocki, Jr., owner of Scrap Enterprises, looks on as The Honorable Thomas J. Munley tours his property which the court considers an illegal junkyard off Keyser Avenue in Old Forge on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)