A Scranton man threatened his 17-year-old son with a knife and kicked in his children’s bedroom door following an argument over an air conditioner, according to a criminal complaint.
Lenin Morales, 45, of 645 Birch St., faces charges of assault and harassment, with police noting he put his children in “fear of serious bodily injury.”
According to the complaint:
Just after midnight on Tuesday, city police officers responded to a reported disturbance between a father and son at the Birch Street residence. A 17-year-old reported his father, Lenin Morales, had pulled a knife on him.
Dispatchers could hear yelling in the background during the call.
Responding officers found the 17-year old standing in the street in front of the residence and his father pacing on the porch.
Officers noted Lenin Morales exhibited signs of intoxication and was behaving erratically. He was sweating profusely, speaking incoherently and had a “scattered thought process,” officers said.
Police suspected him to be under the influence of both cocaine and alcohol.
Morales attempted to explain the events leading up to the disturbance but was largely incoherent, police said.
He told officers he had been involved in a dispute earlier in the day with his wife, Crystal Mellor, after which Mellor left for work, leaving him with the children.
Morales remained angry and told his younger children he was going to “cut the cord.”
His younger children called their 17-year-old brother, who was returning from work, and said they were afraid because of their father’s behavior.
When the 17-year-old returned, he found his father in the living room holding a knife.
Concerned for the safety of his siblings, he gathered the children in a bedroom and brought in the air conditioner.
Morales subsequently kicked in the bedroom door and swung at one of the younger children.
The 17-year-old then armed himself with a kitchen knife before calling 911.
Investigators found a broken interior bedroom door consistent with it being forced open, the air-conditioning unit that had been moved and a kitchen knife.
Officers noted Mellor immediately returned to the residence to care for the children and was provided with information regarding obtaining a protection-from-abuse order.
Morales remains at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on July 14 before District Judge Joanne Corbett.