Apr. 10—SCRANTON — A former state trooper who co-owned a now-shuttered Mayfield strip club and a Throop woman who helped manage it received probation sentences Monday moments after entering guilty pleas to misdemeanors for their roles in a prostitution and gambling ring.

The pleas and punishments for Deanna Tallo and Robert Covington appear to end the criminal case surrounding the Sinners Swing Gentlemen's Club, which in February 2021 resulted in their arrests and the arrests of Michael Ball and David Klem following a statewide grand jury investigation.

Covington, a 50-year-old ex-state trooper who resigned in February 2022, was sentenced by Judge Michael J. Barrasse to one year of probation moments after his plea to charges he allowed gambling on the premises and that he failed for disclose his financial interest in the club.

Covington, of Olyphant, and Klem, of Archbald, own the club, according to the state attorney general's office.

While owning the club, Covington worked in the state police's Bureau of Gaming Enforcement. He did not claim a financial interest in the strip club in forms he was required to fill out, investigators said.

"Through a series of bad decisions, I find myself here," Covington said Monday in court. "I have no desire to be here again.

His attorney, Gregory Pagano, said Covington served eight years in the Air Force and nearly 13 in the state police.

Tallo, 34, received a six-month sentence of probation, which her attorney Francis Genovese said will run concurrently with a three-year federal sentence imposed in April 2021, that was tied to contraband smuggling at the Lackawanna County Prison.

Tallo, a manager at the strip club, pleaded guilty to aiding the consummation of a crime, which Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Adrian Shchuka said is tied to prostitution.

Tallo is happy to put the case behind her., Genovese said. She understood that what took place at the strip club was illegal and is willing to accept responsibility for her "small part" in its goings-on, he said. A dancer who testified to the grand jury described Tallo as a liaison between dancers and the owners.

Authorities accused Covington and Klem of taking money from strippers who performed sex acts on customers and of paying customers who won money on illegal gambling machines.

Klem, 41, pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to promoting prostitution and allowing gambling on the premises. He was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in the county jail.

Ball, 52, of Dalton, was charged with participating in the gambling. He pleaded guilty in December to aiding the consummation of a crime and was sentenced to one year of probation.

"One of the goals of the prosecution was to ensure the future integrity of anybody in law enforcement," Shchuka said. "I believe that's been satisfied (by the pleas)."

Tallo remained incarcerated in Lackawanna County Prison on Monday, as did Klem.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.