Man charged in Ross home invasion

By Andrew Scott
Pocono Record Writer

A man was charged Thursday with helping break into a Ross Township home and tie up a mother and daughter at gunpoint in February.

Anthony Salvatore Diliberti Jr., 19, of Kunkletown, is charged with burglary, robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, having a gun without a license, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint and reckless endangerment. Diliberti was ordered placed in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $25,000 bail and will be scheduled to appear in district court at a future date.

At 11:50 a.m. Feb. 5, the mother and daughter were watching TV when they heard a banging at the front door, an affidavit states. As the mother walked toward the front door, two masked men, displaying guns and wearing gloves, pushed their way through the door into the house.

The men had both women lay on the floor, bound the women's hands with duct tape and told them not to move. When the women said their son and brother would be home soon, one of the men said the son/brother would be "blown away" if he did.

The men then asked the women where the son/brother's bedroom was. When told it was on the second floor, one of the men went upstairs and could be heard rummaging around while the other, who had an AR-15 rifle, U.S. currency and a laptop, kept the gun on the women, the affidavit states.

After the other man came back downstairs, both men took the women's cellphones and then left the residence. The women got up from the floor, looked out and saw the men driving away in a green-blue older-model vehicle, with a license plate that was hard to make out, occupied by a third male.

Shortly after 911 was called, state police arrived at the residence, interviewed the women and found a handgun in the son/brother's bedroom upstairs. Police later traced the gun to its owner, identified as Diliberti's father, and learned it had been reported stolen.

When police executed a search warrant at the Diliberti residence, Diliberti's girlfriend, who was present at the time, told police she knew Diliberti had taken part in the home invasion and that he had dropped his father's gun at the scene, the affidavit states. She also told police he had seen what she believed to be an AR-15 rifle at the Diliberti residence.

Police needed more for the investigation prior to finally charging Diliberti on Thursday.