Convicted murderer Patrick Russin facing ethnic intimidation, assault charges

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DALLAS TWP. — When Patrick Raymond Russin went to the Dallas Township Police Department to pick up personal items on April 11, he was advised of an arrest warrant from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Russin, 54, of North Pioneer Avenue, Shavertown, apparently lost his composure.

Police in Dallas Township in court records allege Russin, when detained, swung his body resulting in two police officers being slammed against walls and a water cooler as he resisted being escorted to a cruiser.

Russin then kicked and damaged rail tracks to a garage door that required repair, court records say.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Scranton on April 14 announced Russin was among four men indicted by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking and firearm offenses.

According to a news release from the federal prosecutor, the indictment alleges from October to April, Russin along with others conspired to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine and distribute cocaine within Luzerne County.

Russin was a witness and testified against Hugo Marcus Selenski in separate double homicide trials, 2006 and 2015, respectively, held in Luzerne County court.

Russin pled guilty to two counts of third degree murder in the shotgun killings of Frank James and Adeiye Keiler at a Mount Olivet Road, Kingston Township, residence where Selenski resided in May 2003, according to court records.

A jury acquitted Selenski on one count of criminal homicide and a hung jury was declared on a second count of criminal homicide following a trial in 2006 when Russin testified about the shotgun slayings.

Russin again testified against Selenski during a January/February trial in 2015, when a jury convicted Selenski in the flex-tie strangulation deaths of Michael Jason Kerkowski and Tammy Lynn Fassett, whose bodies were found in a shallow grave at the Kingston Township property.

Russin was coined, “Pat the Rat” during Selenski’s two trials.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Dallas Township police:

Russin showed up at the police department to pick up personal items due to a previous incident on April 11 when he was advised about the federal arrest warrant.

Russin was detained but began resisting telling officers he was not going anywhere.

Two officers picked up Russin who wailed his body resulting in the officers being slammed against walls and a water cooler, the complaint says.

As they approached a garage door, Russin allegedly kicked the garage door rails and track that was damaged.

Russin further yelled ethnic slurs at one of the officers saying, “You ain’t tough boy, you ain’t tough boy. (Officer’s name) (expletive, ethnic slur). (Expletive) go back to the border where your cousins came from,” the complaint says.

One of the officers suffered a laceration on his hand during the struggle with Russin.

Russin is facing charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, institutional vandalism and ethnic intimidation.

Russin is jailed on the federal arrest warrant at the Lackawanna County Prison.