Cops: All 6 rounded up

First Posted:

By Edward Lewis [email protected] Writer
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Township police believe they have all the people they say took part in the torture of a woman and a man on Aug. 3 and 4 in a house on Center Street.

Jacqueline Renee Frank, 21, of Wilkes-Barre, and Andrew C. Vrhel, 23, of Dallas, surrendered Thursday afternoon at the office of District Judge Michael Dotzel, where they were charged with multiple counts of robbery and several counts of unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and theft.
Frank was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $20,000 bail and Vrhel was locked up for lack of $10,000 bail.
Police allege in arrest records that Frank and Vrhel were involved with Lindsey Noel Simpson, 18, and Jason Farrell, 19, both from Wilkes-Barre, and Autumn Ashford, 22, and Michael Sisko, 24, both from Wilkes-Barre Township, in assaulting a woman and a man at Sisko’s residence on Center Street.
Stephens, Farrell, Sisko and Ashford were arrested earlier in the week on the same charges, and remained jailed at the county prison for lack of $30,000 bail each.
Stephens and Farrell are the only two charged with aggravated assault, according to court records.
According to arrest records:
Police allege the woman and man were lured to Sisko’s residence on Aug. 3 to trade a bottle of whiskey for several OxyContin tablets. After they arrived, the woman claimed she was assaulted and forced to perform jumping jacks and lick saliva off the floor. She also said she was threatened with a knife, forced to take off her clothes and a marker was used to write derogatory words on her body.
The man said he was beaten with a 2-by-4 behind the residence.
Ashford told police she was stranded by the woman and man in New Jersey, and others planned to lure them to the house to seek revenge.
“The alleged acts that were committed were senseless. It was the careless disregard for human life and dignity,” police Lt. Carl Gembitski said. “We got everybody rounded up and we’ll start prosecuting.”
Attorney Demetrius Fannick, who represented Frank and Vrhel at their arraignment on Thursday, said his clients played a minor role in the assault.
“It appears to me, at the end of the day, you’re going to find that there was a group of people at the house ... one or two of those individuals were the primary participants as far as planning it, as far as the events that transpired,” Fannick said.
Preliminary hearings are tentatively scheduled on Aug. 26 before Dotzel.

Edward Lewis, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7196.