District Attorney

Sam Sanguedolce, as the District Attorney, serves as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of Luzerne County. He is a graduate of the University of Scranton where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Sam went on to graduate from the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University where he obtained his Juris Doctorate. 

In 2002, Sam joined the District Attorney's Office as an Assistant D.A. concentrating mostly on criminal prosecutions involving drug trafficking and firearms related offenses. 

Throughout his career as a prosecutor, Sam has handled over fifty (50) jury trials with over a dozen homicides. 

In 2012, he was appointed First Assistant District Attorney under District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis. Under Stefanie, Sam was assigned to be the lead prosecutor in the infamous prosecution of serial killer Hugo Selenski where the prosecution team succeeded in obtaining a double first degree murder conviction. He was also the lead prosecutor in Commonwealth v. Preston Bonnett who intentionally set a fire that killed three children in Laflin. After the Jury Convicted Bonnett of the murder of all three children, he was sentenced to serve three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. 

In March of 2021, Sam was appointed District Attorney when D.A. Salavantis left the position to run for Judge, and in November of that year, was elected to the seat of District Attorney. 

In November of 2022, District Attorney Sanguedolce led the prosecution in the case of Commonwealth v. Jayshawn Johnson who shot three people in Wilkes-Barre, killing two and blinding a third. The jury convicted Johnson of two counts of first degree murder for the victims he killed and attempted homicide for the third victim. He is serving two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole followed by a consecutive twenty to forty years for the attempted homicide count. 

In this year's Primary Election, Sam won both the Republican and Democrat nomination for another term as District Attorney, and was elected to serve another fouryear term in November of 2023.