A 20-year-old Plymouth man was arrested Sunday after allegedly striking his mother in the face with the tip of an air rifle, less than three weeks after he was released on parole tied to earlier threat cases in the borough. Riley F. Young was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail after a judge deemed him a threat to the community.
According to the Times Leader, police court records say a Ring camera recorded the alleged assault outside the family's High Street residence. Young's mother told officers that he walked out of the house carrying an air rifle, declaring “I'm gonna have some fun” and “little pig, little pig” before the confrontation turned physical. She told police he struck the right side of her face below her eye with the rifle's tip.
Struggle With Officers Before Handcuffs
When Plymouth police responded to the home, Young struggled with the officers and, per the court records cited by the station's report, initiated a confrontation with them before he was handcuffed. He was arraigned by District Judge Brian Tupper, who serves Kingston Township, on charges of terroristic threats, resisting arrest, simple assault and harassment.
Young had been released on parole on October 6, just weeks before Sunday's alleged attack, stemming from two previous incidents involving threats in Plymouth.
A Winding Path Through Probation and Parole
That parole followed a bumpy stretch through the Luzerne County court system this year. Young was initially sentenced by Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael T. Vough on May 28 to four years' probation, but he violated the terms of that probation in less than two weeks. He was re-sentenced on July 14 to one to two years at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, according to a separate Times Leader report on the resentencing.
That earlier case traced back to allegations that Young sent a juvenile relative a series of text messages in mid-June pledging to go on a killing spree. The arrest report listed him as 20.
Prior Allegations of a Gun Pointed at His Mother
Sunday's arrest echoes an earlier, more serious allegation involving Young and his mother. In October 2025, according to the Citizens' Voice, Young was accused of pulling a loaded .40-caliber handgun from his waistband and pointing it at his mother's face during an argument, leading to charges of illegal possession of a firearm, terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment. He was 19 at the time.
At that point, the Citizens' Voice reported, Young was already free on bail tied to his June 2025 arrest over the alleged killing-spree messages, having pleaded guilty to criminal use of a communication facility and corruption of minors with sentencing then scheduled for November 5. He had also been arrested a second time while police investigated a domestic disturbance at his residence on October 5, 2025, according to a third Times Leader report on his probation case.
With Sunday's new charges added to that history, Young has already been arraigned and jailed without bail in a case that has repeatedly circled back to threats and violence inside the same Plymouth household.
