Jun 10 2015

Schools Ignore Grand Jury’s Warning To Let Police Investigate Sex Cases

A grand jury in Harrisburg declared 17 months ago that school administrators are singularly unqualified to investigate alleged sexual abuse, but the practice continues.

“School district administrators lack training needed to conduct a meaningful investigation into whether or not physical or sexual abuse has occurred,” according to a Dauphin County grand jury’s investigation of Susquehanna Township School District in January 2014.

The grand jury said administrators lack access to investigative resources such as search warrants, court orders, wiretaps or subpoenas and lack training in the questioning of victims, witnesses and suspects.

“Very often, a preliminary investigation will tip off a suspect and foreclose the availability of the investigative resources described above even once the police become involved,” the panel concluded.

Jun 9 2015

Plum School Board Member Says He Warned Administrators Of Inappropriate Contact

Former Plum school board member Joseph Tommarello said he told the school superintendent three years ago about inappropriate contact between English teacher Joseph Ruggieri and student – and told him again last year.

Superintendent Timothy Glasspool told him, “This would not be the first time he will have had to have a conversation with Mr. Ruggieri about inappropriate contact with students,” Tommarello said.

When he heard nothing back, Tommarello said he believed it meant there was nothing to be found.

“It’s disgusting to think that a teacher has some kind of relationship like this with a student and nothing gets done about it,” Tommarello said in an interview with the Tribune-Review Monday.

May 27 2015

Plum Teacher Held For Trial On Charges Of Witness Intimidation

A judge on Wednesday upheld intimidation charges against a Plum high school teacher amid tearful testimony from the alleged victim.

Drew Zoldak, a science teacher, is charged with two counts of witness intimidation for allegedly pointing out a victim in an ongoing student sex abuse investigation involving another Plum teacher.

Feb 10 2015

State Police Corporal Faces Charges In Shooting Death Of State Trooper David Kedra

MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURTHOUSE – The District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday announced charges against a state trooper accused of accidently shooting and killing another state trooper during a firearms training exercise at the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Campus in September 2014.

State Police Corporal Richard Schroeter, 42, of Royersford, is being charged with five counts of recklessly endangering another person that led to the death of 26-year-old state trooper David Kedra.

The charges come after the Montgomery County grand jury heard testimony in the case. The grand jury recommended the charges.

The release states the grand jury did not find enough evidence showing that Schroeter “consciously disregarded human life” and did not recommend he be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Jan 8 2015

Grand Jury Recommends Criminal Charges Against Attorney General Kathleen Kane

The special prosecutor and grand jury investigating allegations that Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane leaked secret information to a newspaper have found evidence of wrongdoing and recommended that she be criminally charged, according to numerous people familiar with the decision.

The panel concluded that Kane violated grand-jury secrecy rules by leaking investigative material in a bid to embarrass political enemies, sources said.

Some of those familiar with the grand jury presentment say it recommended charges that included perjury and contempt of court.

The statewide grand jury sitting in Norristown has turned over its findings to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who must decide whether to affirm its findings and arrest Kane, the state’s top law enforcement official.

Oct 26 2013

Judge Expunges Matthews’ Criminal Record; Grand Jury Documents Retained

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURTHOUSE — The criminal record of the former chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners was expunged Friday, with the exception of materials contained in a grand jury report that led to his arrest more than a year ago.

Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge William T. Nicholas granted the petition to expunge the misdemeanor charge of false swearing to a grand jury against James Matthews, who was arrested and resigned as board chairman in December 2011.

But the judge’s order included an amendment that information contained in the grand jury transcripts and exhibits leveled against Matthews — following an investigation into the Montgomery County commissioners two years ago — would not be expunged.

Sep 9 2013

Gergely Chief Of Staff Testified Before ‘Operation Pork Chop’ Grand Jury In Mon Valley Gambling Case

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The chief of staff for Pennsylvania state Rep. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, testified in June before an investigating grand jury looking into the suspected Mon Valley gambling operation of Ronald “Porky” Melocchi.

Thomas Maglicco appeared June 17, his attorney, Douglas Sughrue, said this morning.

Mr. Sughrue declined to provide details of his client’s testimony.

“I’m not gonna get into those specifics,” Mr. Sughrue said. “It was brief.”

Aug 23 2013

Federal Grand Jury Indicts PA Cyber Charter School Founder Nicholas Trombetta And His Accountant

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nicholas Trombetta, a onetime wrestling coach who founded the wildly successful PA Cyber Charter School, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on a variety of fraud and tax charges.

A 41-page indictment made public this morning outlined the federal government’s allegations against Mr. Trombetta and his accountant, Neal Prence.

“This investigation is active and continues,” U.S. Attorney David Hickton said during a press conference this morning at the FBI field office on Pittsburgh‘s South Side.

Federal investigators tallied the amount they said Mr. Trombetta stole at $990,000.

Jun 8 2013

Grand Jury To Probe Bathtub Death

A grand jury will investigate the death of Julia Papazian Law, the 26-year-old paralegal found dead in a bathtub in her boss’ Center City apartment last month.

Word of the inquiry came as toxicology tests revealed that at the time of her death, Law had a blood-alcohol level higher than 0.40 percent – five times the threshold for legal intoxication, according to court sources. Medical experts say a blood-alcohol content of 0.35 percent or greater may be fatal.

The District Attorney’s Office confirmed Friday that it had asked for the grand jury probe, but declined to elaborate.

Law, who worked for high-profile defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr., was found facedown in his tub on May 25.

Peruto, 58, who described Law as his girlfriend, told police he was in Avalon, N.J., on the night she died. He said he learned of her death from a maintenance worker who found her body in Peruto’s Rittenhouse Square apartment.

Mar 23 2013

Attorney: Ex-Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper To Plead Guilty

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Former Pittsburgh police chief Nate Harper intends to plead guilty after a grand jury returned an indictment against him Friday charging him with conspiracy and tax evasion, his attorney said.

Robert Del Greco Jr. said the evidence against Mr. Harper was “unambiguous.” He said Mr. Harper would plead guilty to all five counts contained in the indictment without modification.

“It’s a felony,” Mr. Del Greco said this afternoon. “It’s cost him his career, possibly his pension. I don’t know that I could put it any better.”

He said his client’s actions were indefensible, that the “lure of the account” proved an “irresistible temptation.”

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