Andrew Krowiak, Esq., First Assistant District Attorney
Andrew Krowiak is the First Assistant District Attorney for Lackawanna County. He is a graduate of Scranton Preparatory School, Temple University, and the Western Michigan Thomas Cooley School of Law, where he graduated with honors.
After law school, he served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Carmen Minora in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. Krowiak joined the District Attorney’s Office in 2015, where he served in the DUI/Vehicular Homicide and Narcotics Units until 2019. His extensive trial work on drug-trafficking cases earned him the Prosecutor of the Year Award in 2016 and 2017 from the Lackawanna United Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Krowiak left the District Attorney’s Office briefly, returning in 2021 to oversee the Drug, Gang & Gun Unit until 2025. In this role, he supervised four attorneys and managed all related investigations in the county. As a prosecutor, he possesses a great depth of knowledge, training, and expertise in tackling complex gang- and firearm-related crimes. His insightful analysis of criminal networks, gun- and drug-trafficking operations, and gang organizations has been instrumental in securing convictions and dismantling dangerous organizations throughout his tenure. Duing his career, Krowiak has successfully prosecuted a wide array of cases, including homicide, arson, domestic violence, robbery, and drug delivery resulting in death.
Sara Varela, Esq., Chief Deputy District Attorney
Sara Varela is the Chief Deputy District Attorney and heads up the office’s Major Crimes Unit, where she is responsible for overseeing the investigation and prosecution of all homicide cases. Before her appointment to the Major Crimes Unit, Varela was deputy of the Special Victims Unit for five years. She was the lead prosecutor on all rape, child sexual assault, physical abuse, child pornography, and human-trafficking cases. Her duties also included directing the Lackawanna County Multidisciplinary Team response to child sexual assault and physical abuse cases.
Since joining the office in 2017, Varela tried more than 30 cases to verdict, including charges of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, kidnapping, rape of a child, sexual assault, burglary, child endangerment, and production of child pornography.
Previously, she served as an Assistant State Attorney for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office in Florida for seven years, where she was a member of the Organized Crime Unit and prosecuted international money-laundering and narcotics-trafficking organizations. Before moving back to Lackawanna County, she worked at a prominent South Florida law firm, where she served as legal counsel to cities and police departments throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. Immediately prior to joining the DA’s Office, she served as a staff attorney at the Barbara J. Hart Justice Center, representing survivors of domestic violence in family law and immigration matters.
Varela is a graduate of Abington Heights High School, Villanova University, and the Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Paul Walker, Esq., Senior Litigation Counsel
Attorney Paul Walker, a former First Assistant District Attorney, returned to the DA’s Office in 2025 to serve as Senior Litigation Counsel.
A native of Scranton, Walker graduated from the former Scranton High School, attended Drexel University from 1975 to 1977 and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Scranton in 1979. He graduated from the Dickinson School of Law in 1982.
After law school, Walker worked in private practice before serving as Lackawanna County First Assistant District Attorney. He returned to private practice from 1987 to 2025, specializing in criminal defense. He has handled thousands of criminal cases, trying approximately 200 cases to a jury verdict. He has also been the lead attorney in a dozen death penalty cases, as well as murder, drug, and sexual assault cases.