HONESDALE, WAYNE COUNTY — Two days after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court pulled his law license, Michael Joseph Farley walked out of the Wayne County Correctional Facility.

The 42-year-old Waymart attorney was paroled Monday, December 16 after serving six months on charges that started as multiple first-degree felonies and ended as a single misdemeanor and a handful of disorderly conducts.

The shed on Stanton Drive

Farley practiced criminal defense but also ran a property management business. Stephen Chicoski, 35, of Waymart and Lisa Perkowski of Hawley did renovations and odd jobs for him.

June 3, 2023, Clinton Township. Farley owed Chicoski nine weeks of back pay. According to state police, Farley drove his Jeep into the shed where Chicoski was working, climbed out, and went at him with a wrench.

Troopers charged Farley with four counts of aggravated assault — two first-degree felonies carrying up to 20 years each. He bonded out the next day on $60,000.

Perkowski witnessed the attack. She was owed four weeks.

Then Farley tried to buy their silence. To Chicoski: a car, the back wages, and $7,000 cash. To Perkowski: money and a place to stay in Waymart. He drafted a letter for Chicoski to sign.

“I want to make it clear that under no circumstances whatsoever will I testify against Michael Farley,” it read.

They refused. When Farley started shorting their paychecks again, they went to Wayne County detectives. Witness intimidation charges — four more F1 felonies — followed.

The cases kept coming

February 2024: Farley violated a protection from abuse order. A judge found him in contempt — 15 to 30 days.

April 24, 2025: State police responded to a domestic call in Waymart Borough. Farley had repeatedly shot his girlfriend with a paintball gun.

The charges: two F1 aggravated assaults, terroristic threats, possession of an instrument of crime, 17 counts of simple assault, 15 counts of unlawful discharge of a paintball gun, 17 counts of harassment, 17 counts of disorderly conduct. Seventy-one total.

Bail: $250,000. Farley couldn’t make it. He went to Wayne County prison June 24.

Separately, detectives had been investigating a real estate deal. In June 2024, Farley sold a Clinton Township property for $29,000 cash without mentioning it was already mortgaged. They charged him with F1 money laundering, theft by deception, and fraud.

Five cases, one deal

By November 2025, Farley faced five active criminal cases. Exposed on the felonies alone: decades.

On November 13, he pleaded guilty to almost none of it.

The wrench attack? Misdemeanor reckless endangerment. The witness intimidation? Disorderly conduct. The real estate fraud? Disorderly conduct. The 71-count paintball case? Three summary offenses.

Sentence: four to 12 months with 172 days credit, plus a year of probation. Ten thousand in restitution to the fraud victims.

Sentenced Friday. Paroled Monday.

License pulled, profile scrubbed

The Supreme Court suspended Farley’s license November 14, effective December 14. The Disciplinary Board called it “an imposition of public discipline.”

His listing still shows Mack Law Offices in Kingston as his employer. The firm’s website doesn’t include him. The Wayne County Bar Association, where he once advertised criminal defense expertise, has removed his profile.

Chicoski and Perkowski resurface

The two employees who refused Farley’s bribes surfaced again last month.

October 15: State police raided a house on Church Street in Hawley looking for methamphetamine. They arrested four people, including Chicoski and Perkowski.

Neither caught drug charges — only charges tied to a stolen Volkswagen at the scene. Within three weeks, prosecutors dropped everything.

The two people who did face drug charges, Jessica Frick and David Caggiano, sit in Wayne County prison on $350,000 combined bail awaiting trial.

Chicoski has an active bench warrant out of Philadelphia — skipped an August hearing on receiving stolen property. Perkowski faces 27 pending charges across two dangerous dog cases after her pit bulls attacked sheep in Salem Township, plus a separate drug paraphernalia case.

Wayne County is a small place. Everybody’s case touches somebody else’s.

Case Information

Case	Original Charges	Outcome
CP-64-CR-0000362-2023	4 Aggravated Assault, Simple Assault, REAP, Reckless Driving	Pled to M2 REAP; 4-12 months
CP-64-CR-0000254-2025	4 F1 Witness Intimidation, Hindering, Obstruction	Pled to M3 Disorderly Conduct; 6 months probation
CP-64-CR-0000253-2025	F1 Money Laundering, Theft, Fraud	Pled to M3 Disorderly Conduct; 6 months probation, $10K restitution
CP-64-CR-0000200-2025	2 F1 Aggravated Assault + 69 charges (71 total)	Pled to 3 summary offenses
CP-64-MD-0000029-2024	Indirect Criminal Contempt	Found in contempt; 15-30 days served

Defendant: Michael Joseph Farley, DOB 03/27/1983, Waymart

Arresting Agencies: Pennsylvania State Police – Honesdale, Wayne County Detectives

Prosecution: Wayne County District Attorney’s Office

Court: Wayne County Court of Common Pleas (out-of-county judge presiding)

Status: Paroled December 16, 2025. Law license suspended December 14, 2025.

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All individuals charged with crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Farley has resolved all pending criminal matters through guilty pleas and is currently serving probation.