First Posted: 4/24/2014
Former State Sen. Ray Musto has died at the age of 85 at home this morning, his niece, former Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll confirmed this morning.
“It’s so, so sad,” a tearful Ms. Carroll said, declining further comment.
The news comes weeks after a U.S. District judge allowed the cancer-stricken ex-lawmaker to return home from a federal medical center in North Carolina, where he had been committed after being ruled not competent to stand trial on a longstanding federal corruption case.
The man accused of bribing Musto, developer Robert Mericle, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in federal court in Scranton.
A federal grand jury in November 2010 indicted Musto on allegations he accepted cash, gifts and services as part of a scheme designed to secure his continued support of various construction projects, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The indictment also alleges Musto accepted thousands of dollars in cash from another unnamed individual affiliated with Northeast Pennsylvania municipal authorities. Musto allegedly accepted those cash payments as a reward for having helped the municipal authorities obtain loans and grants.
Musto sought an indefinite continuance of the trial, contending health issues and mental deterioration made him unable to withstand a trial or participate in his own defense. His attorneys cited an aortic aneurysm and non-alcoholic cirrhosis.
In January, U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo ruled Musto, of Pittston Township, was physically able to go to trial but mentally incompetent.
Caputo allowed Musto to return home in the wake of news that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
