Property at 142 Carlisle St., Wilkes-Barre.
Ed Lewis | Times Leader file photo
WILKES-BARRE — A Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judge on Monday issued a bench warrant for a Pittston man who failed to appear for a court proceeding on allegations he assaulted a male inside 142 Carlisle St., Wilkes-Barre, in 2023.
Tafsir I. Harris, 32, last known address as 55 E. Columbus St., was scheduled to appear before Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, and unlawful restraint.
Harris failed to appear, prompting Sklarosky to issue a bench warrant, also known as a capias warrant, for his arrest.
Wilkes-Barre City police detectives charged Harris, along with Desiree Kehaun Linnette, 45, and Jason Race, 45, with beating Anthony Cook inside the Carlisle Street residence deemed the “House of Horrors” in July 2023, according to court records.
Cook was kept inside the house against his will and assaulted in the basement as he was wrongly accused by Linnette and Race of inappropriately touching a child, court records say.
Court records say Cook escaped out a basement window and summoned help from city police in the area of Division Street and Carey Avenue on July 27, 2023.
Officers went to the Carlisle Street house to check on the welfare of the child when Race and Faith Beamer, 41, obstructed officers in their investigation, court records say.
At the time Cook was allegedly beaten in the residence in July 2023, according to court records, the body of Nicole Cuevas, 38, of Saginaw, Mich., was buried in the dirt basement. Cuevas was kept against her will and tortured inside the house until she was killed and buried in April 2023, court records say.
Cuevas’ body was discovered by city police detectives on Feb. 27, 2024.
Linnette and Race have pleaded guilty to their alleged roles in assaulting Cook, as well as the murder of Cuevas. Linnette’s daughter, Sarai Doyle, 26, also pleaded guilty to her role in Cuevas’ murder, as the mother and daughter also pleaded guilty to killing Debra Fox, 69, who previously owned the Carlisle Street residence, at a hotel on Kidder Street, Wilkes-Barre, in January 2024.
Fox’s body was found on an embankment behind the hotel in March 2024.
Criminal homicide cases against Beamer and William Benjamin Wolfe, 56, related to the Cuevas’ murder, remain open in the Court of Common Pleas.
Harris is not charged with Cuevas’ and Fox’s murders.
Anthony Vernet Dixon, 26, last known address as Main Street, Sugar Notch, is facing charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, and criminal conspiracy to commit abuse of corpse for his alleged role in beating Cuevas inside the Carlisle Street house. Dixon is scheduled to appear before Sklarosky on May 28.
