A Pittston man is jailed without bail on kidnapping charges after beating his wife and then loading family members into a minivan for a “vacation” during which he threatened to kill her, according to city police.
Bernard P. Topa Jr., 38, is accused of abducting his wife along with three children following a domestic assault that began at the family home at 82 Mill St. early Thursday.
According to the complaint, Topa first began yelling at his wife around 4 a.m. while seeking the keys to their minivan. When she refused to hand them over, Topa grabbed her by the feet and began dragging her around the house, police said.
A few hours later, Topa began yelling once more and used scissors to cut the woman’s hair while she was curled up in a fetal position on the couch, the charges allege.
Topa then started beating his wife with a walking stick, causing severe pain and bruising to her right arm, police said.
She told two of her children who were leaving for school to tell a teacher what was happening in hopes someone would call 911, according to the complaint.
Once those children left, Topa ordered his wife and three other kids into a van, police said. They drove up to the Back Mountain, where Topa threw his wife’s phone out of the car window.
He told her they were going on a “family vacation” and that he could kill her if he wanted, according to the complaint.
The woman then drove to her mother’s house on Wood Street in Scranton. Her mother refused to allow Topa inside and he left, vowing to drive the van off a bridge, police said.
Police charged Topa with kidnapping, child endangerment, making terroristic threats and simple assault, and he was arrested later Thursday.
Magisterial District Judge James M. Dixon arraigned Topa on the charges and denied bail, deeming him to be a danger to the victims.
Topa was being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 22.