Stephen Carroll was found guilty of 29 of the 30 counts he faced, including the most serious charges.
LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Former Scranton police officer Stephen Carroll was found guilty inside the Lackawanna Courthouse on 29 of 30 counts against him.
A jury found him guilty of raping students, some as young as 15 years old, while working as a school resource officer at West Scranton High School.
Some of those allegations date back more than a decade.
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“Our clients are relieved, finally, after nearly a decade or more of not having justice; they got it. Through their courageous, heroic efforts, they took a predator monster off the streets,” said Robert Moran, victims’ attorney.
One of the victims told the jury that the crimes took place during the school day.
It took the jury less than two hours to reach their decision.
One of the jurors said hearing from several victims made the biggest impact.
“We took time; we looked at each victim, one by one, and took the time to break down their story and see if there were any missing pieces or cloudy areas, and we were able to reach a conclusion based on the facts that we were given,” said Angelo Cerra, jury foreman.
While the verdict has been handed down, both sides say they’re not done just yet.
“We argued that there was a motive behind the allegations, and we thought if the jury would see that it was not as black-and-white as they thought it was, and we plan to appeal. He maintains his innocence,” said Jason Shrive, defense attorney.
“Our streets are safer. And the institutions who facilitate and enabled his abuse to occur and to continue to remain unbated for more than a decade, they’re next,” said Luke Moran, victims’ attorney.
Carroll was taken away from the courthouse in an ambulance after passing out in the courtroom following the verdict. We are not sure of his current condition.