Former Wilkes-Barre Reporter Gets Prison in Internet Sex Sting

By: A former Wilkes-Barre newspaper reporter who authorities said tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl via the Internet was sentenced yesterday to two to four years in prison, followed by four years of probation.

"I apologize for my actions that led to my arrest," Stephen Sembrat, 48, told Judge Frank T. Hazel as the judge formalized a plea agreement Sembrat had reached with Delaware County prosecutors.

Sembrat, who also was a girls field hockey coach, had been a reporter for the Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre for 22 years before his arrest last year. He had been communicating with a detective who posed as a 13-year-old girl on the Internet, then was arrested when he showed up at the place where they had arranged to meet.