Mark Kandel: Arrest, Federal Case, and Prison Sentence

Mark Kandel is a former Pennsylvania special education specialist and former Scranton school board member who was sentenced in October 2013 to 14 and a half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to online enticement of a minor. Federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Pennsylvania established that Kandel used cellphones and the internet throughout 2012 to solicit sexual activity and explicit images from teenage boys, some of them classmates of his own daughters.¹

Background Before the Case

Kandel held a doctorate in learning disabilities and special education and was described in local media as a well-known educator in the Scranton area.² He held a Pennsylvania Instructional I teaching certificate for mentally and physically handicapped students and worked as a behavior management specialist and curriculum specialist at the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19 in Archbald, Lackawanna County, from June 2002 until his resignation in May 2008.³ He also served on the Scranton School Board during the 1990s.⁴

Kandel lived in Peckville, Pennsylvania, with his then-wife Marisa Burke, a lead anchor at WNEP-TV, and the couple’s two daughters.

The 2008 Investigation and Loss of His Teaching License

Kandel’s first contact with law enforcement came in 2008. Investigators looked into reports that he had sent sexually suggestive texts to a 17-year-old boy, provided inappropriate gifts such as underwear, and asked teenagers to pose provocatively for photographs.³ He was also found to have hosted parties with underage drinking in May 2008. Kandel pleaded guilty to furnishing alcohol to minors and received 90 days of house arrest and nine months of probation.²

He resigned from the Intermediate Unit in May 2008. In October 2009, the Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practices Commission revoked his teaching certificate, finding that he had engaged in “unprofessional conduct constituting immorality, negligence and intemperance.” Kandel did not respond to the Department of Education’s notice of charges, and the factual allegations were deemed admitted by default.³

The 2012 Federal Case

In November 2012, a 17-year-old boy reported to the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office that Kandel had sent him sexually explicit texts, nude photographs, and requests to meet for sexual encounters. Investigators found roughly 900 messages on the victim’s phone from October 2012 alone.² Prosecutors later alleged that Kandel had sent more than 13,000 messages to 17 male juveniles over the course of 2012.

Detectives arrested Kandel on November 7, 2012, on state charges of attempted solicitation of a minor. On December 4, 2012, a federal grand jury in Scranton returned a five-count indictment charging him with online enticement of minors in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b). The indictment alleged that between January and November 2012, Kandel used the internet and a cellular device to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce five minors to engage in sexual activity.⁵ The case was filed as No. 3:12-CR-00304 in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. U.S. Magistrate Judge Malachy Mannion ordered Kandel detained pending trial.

According to the Presentence Report, Kandel admitted to soliciting minors for pictures of themselves in underwear and asking for nude photographs, massages, and sexual activity in exchange for money and other favors.⁶

Guilty Plea and Sentence

On June 4, 2013, Kandel pleaded guilty to one count of online enticement of a minor. Prosecutors dropped the remaining four counts.⁷ The plea agreement called for a sentence of 13 to 19 years, lifetime supervised release, and registration under the Adam Walsh Act.⁸

On October 28, 2013, Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo sentenced Kandel to 174 months, or 14.5 years, in federal prison, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release and sex offender registration under the Adam Walsh Act.¹ Federal prison carries no possibility of parole.⁹

Judge Caputo called Kandel’s conduct “depraved” from the bench and told him his behavior was “a very serious offense” and “not acceptable in our world.”¹⁰ One victim, a Valley View High School student at the time, testified that Kandel had offered him money for communications and explicit photographs. The young man told the court he had attempted suicide and engaged in self-harm while reading Kandel’s messages, and that classmates had ridiculed him after he came forward.⁹

Kandel’s teenage daughter Sarah also addressed the court. She called her father the “epitome of selfishness,” said she was “ashamed” to call him her father, and urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence, telling him the scandal would “continue to haunt my sister and I for the rest of our lives.”¹¹ Defense attorney Frank Santomauro described Kandel as “extremely remorseful” and noted that the sentence fell a few years short of what prosecutors had sought.⁹

Compassionate Release Denied in 2021

In late December 2020, while incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Kandel moved for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), citing the COVID-19 pandemic and underlying health conditions that included asthma and sarcoidosis.¹² Santomauro argued that these respiratory issues made Kandel particularly vulnerable to severe illness and met the “extraordinary and compelling” threshold for early release.¹³

Federal prosecutors opposed the motion. The government later submitted a filing confirming that Kandel had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with his second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine administered on April 13, 2021. On May 7, 2021, Judge Matthew W. Brann denied the motion, ruling that Kandel’s full vaccination significantly reduced his risk of severe illness and that his medical conditions therefore no longer constituted extraordinary and compelling reasons for release.⁶

Where He Is Now

As of late 2021, Kandel was housed at the minimum-security camp at Fort Dix, New Jersey, with a Bureau of Prisons projected release date of April 10, 2025.² When released, he will serve a lifetime term of supervised release and must register as a sex offender under the Adam Walsh Act.¹ Kandel and Burke divorced in 2014.

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Peckville Man Sentenced for Online Enticement of Minors
2
The Morning Call. Former WNEP-TV Anchor Opens Up About Public Betrayal, Humiliation After Husband’s Arrests
3
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. DI-09-28 Kandel, Mark K.
4
MarisaBurke.com. Difficult Time in Marisa Burke’s Life About to Become an Open Book
5
FBI Philadelphia. Peckville Man Charged Federally With Online Enticement of Minors
6
GovInfo. United States v. Kandel, 3:12-CR-00304
7
Republican Herald. Former WNEP Anchor Talks About Dealing With Scandal, Public Humiliation
8
FBI Philadelphia. Plea Agreement Filed in Case of Peckville Man Charged With Online Enticement of Minors
9
WNEP. Former Educator Sentenced for Online Enticing
10
The Times-Tribune. Former Scranton School Director Sentenced to Prison for Sexting Minors
11
The Times-Tribune. Former Scranton School Director Gets 14 1/2 Years for Sexting
12
CourtListener. United States v. Kandel, Docket 3:12-CR-00304
13
The Times-Tribune. Former Scranton School Director Serving Sentence for Sexting Teens Asks for Release From Prison