Equal treatment under the law?

I was a little shocked to see today’s Wilkes-Barre, PA Times Leader article on Bobby “Shades” Kulick being granted extra time to report to prison.

“Shades” plead guilty to a firearms charge as was sentenced to 37 months in prison. His first day in Club-Fed was scheduled to be before October 21, but a federal judge granted his request to delay his start date to November 5. Why? This is where it gets good.

“Shades” is married to Michelle Mattioli-Kulick. Name sound familiar? It should, Michelle’s father is Joseph Mattioli, the founder of Pocono Raceway and the owner of several pair of pants with deep pockets. According to the Times Leader:

(Joseph) Mattioli is being honored by public television station WVIA as a “Great Pennsylvanian” at East Stroudsburg University, court papers state. Kulick requested, and the judge agreed, to postpone Kulick’s surrender date to Nov. 5 so that he could attend the theatrical premiere.

Bill Kelly, president of WVIA, should be the one postponing the airing of the show rather than letting a convicted criminal on the street any longer than he should be.

All I can say is that if this were some poor schmuck like you or I, we’d be reporting to jail as scheduled, not getting a reprieve to attend a “theatrical performance.”