William Maguire released from prison

Ex-Redevelopment Authority member served two months for corruption-related plea.

A former Wilkes-Barre chief of detectives and Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority member who pleaded guilty to a corruption-related charge completed his two-month federal prison sentence Friday.

William Maguire, 62, of Mountain Top, was released from the Community Corrections facility in Philadelphia, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons web site.

At Maguire’s sentencing in July, U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo also ordered him to serve two years of supervised release by the federal probation department upon his release.

Maguire could not be reached for comment Saturday.

He admitted accepting $1,400 from a contractor for the Redevelopment Authority as payment for a January 2009 business trip to Sanibel Island, Fla.

The trip was approved by the authority and several other authority members attended. But Maguire was concerned about asking for reimbursement because of a debit-card scandal in the county the previous year. Instead he sought payment from the contractor, identified as Michael Pasonick, who received Maguire’s support in obtaining business with the authority, according to a federal prosecutor.

Pasonick pleaded guilty in an unrelated case to bribing a school board member with the intent of obtaining contracts in the future. He is awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court, Scranton.