MONROE UNFILTERED: THE DAILY BUZZ | Sept. 9
A Homicide Ruling and a 20-Year-Old Art Heist
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
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DAILY WEATHER FOR A GOOD DAY TO BE OUTSIDE
If you're teeing off at today's Habitat for Humanity golf tournament at Great Bear (or doing anything else outdoors), you picked a good day for it: partly cloudy, a high near 84°F, and just a low chance of an overnight shower after dark.
Thursday holds close on temperature, a high near 83°F, but it's roughly a coin flip on afternoon or evening showers, so keep an umbrella handy. Friday clears out nicely, sunny and 77°F to close out the short work week.
THE LEAD: MARSHALL'S CREEK SHOOTING RULED A HOMICIDE
Monroe County Coroner Thomas Yanac has ruled the death of Sean Thornton, 37, of Middle Smithfield Township a homicide, determining he died of multiple gunshot wounds. As we reported yesterday, Thornton was shot by state troopers responding to a disturbance call at a home on Marshalls Creek Road just before 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4. He was pronounced dead at 7:43 p.m. at Lehigh Valley Hospital Pocono Emergency Department.
Pennsylvania State Police and the Monroe County District Attorney's Office are jointly investigating whether the shooting was justified, with Troop N's Major Case Team leading the review. The involved troopers remain on administrative leave; but remember that is standard procedure after a shooting. Despite numerous speculations on social media, authorities have not released what led to the disturbance call, and no charges have been filed as of this writing.
A coroner's ruling of homicide is a medical and legal classification of how someone died. It is not, on its own, a criminal charge, and none has been filed against the troopers involved.
THE VAULT: THE POCONO'S OWN (STUPID) THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR
If you are keeping up with international art news, you may have caught that two thieves made off with three valuable Renoir paintings yesterday (they grabbed four, but dropped one while fleeing). Well, twenty years ago this fall, one of the strangest art heists in American history played out at a highway motel just off I-80 in Bartonsville. On the night of Nov. 7-8, 2006, Francisco Goya's 1778 painting “Children with a Cart,” insured for $1 million, was stolen from a locked art-transport truck parked overnight at the Howard Johnson Inn while it made its way from the Toledo Museum of Art to a Guggenheim exhibition. Why they stayed the night so close to New York remains a mystery.
The thieves were not art collectors. Steven Lee Olson, of Carlstadt, New Jersey, and his neighbor Roman Szurko broke into the truck hoping to find pre-Christmas electronics (the FBI's own working theory at the time was that they were after PlayStations) and instead found a nearly 230-year-old Spanish master. But that is where their luck ran out; turns out it is quite hard to fence a million-dollar painting. Olson said he didn't return the painting because, in his words, “it kind of grew on me.” Instead, Olson contacted federal authorities through an attorney, claiming he'd found the painting in his basement, and tried to claim the $50,000 reward for its safe return. That tipped off the FBI to their involvement. The painting was returned undamaged to the Toledo Museum of Art. The pair pleaded guilty in December 2007.
A strange footnote came 14 years later. Faizal Bhimani, the Howard Johnson's manager quoted by name in the New York Times' original coverage of the theft, was himself convicted in 2020 and sentenced in 2022 to 15 years in prison for running a sex and drug trafficking operation out of that same motel. But we will save that story from The Vault for yet another day.
A local landmark, an international art crime, and an unrelated conviction over a decade later. Who needs Netflix's Ozark when you have the Poconos?
THE DAILY RUNDOWN
Lehighton Finishes Off Pocono Mountain West After Lightning Delay. Lehighton's football game against Pocono Mountain West stretched across two days after lightning suspended play Thursday night, Sept. 3, with the Indians already leading 21-0 with 6:57 left in the second quarter. Play resumed Friday morning to finish it out, and Lehighton closed out a 35-0 win. The result drops Pocono Mountain West to 1-1 on the season.
SILVER LININGS
Women Veterans Museum Finds a New Home in Stroudsburg. Community members cut the ribbon last Saturday on the new home of the Women Veterans Museum, now located along North 7th Street in Stroudsburg after relocating from Mount Pocono. The museum's mission is educating visitors on the roles women have played throughout the history of the U.S. Armed Forces, and it will also connect veterans with support resources for themselves and their families. “The statement, thank you for your service, becomes more than just that lip service. It becomes so much more meaningful,” said Claudette Williams of the Women Veterans Museum.
Tee Off for a Good Cause. Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County holds its annual golf tournament today at Great Bear Golf Club, 18 holes followed by dinner, raffles, and prizes, all benefiting the organization's local home building program. Entry is $125 per golfer.
Run for a Paramedic's Legacy. Suburban EMS holds the Jon McCombs Memorial 5K this Saturday, Sept. 12, at 9 a.m. at the Levee Loop Trailhead in Dansbury Park, East Stroudsburg, rain or shine. The run/walk benefits scholarships for future paramedics and honors McCombs, the organization's former operations manager, who died in a motorcycle crash back in 2022. Registration runs $38.98 through race day, when it rises to $44.15.