April 19--Six weeks after arresting the Bucks County register of wills on corruption charges, prosecutors are investigating possible misconduct in the county sheriff's office, according to a county commissioner and the lawyer for a deputy sheriff.
The deputy, Sgt. Gary Browndorf, has been asked to testify Thursday before a county grand jury examining "improprieties in the Sheriff's Department," said his attorney, Nino Tinari.
Sheriff Edward J. Donnelly did not respond to two messages seeking comment Monday.
County Commissioner Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia said she learned of the investigation after forwarding complaints from sheriff's deputies to the county Controller's Office.
"They told me they were investigating it," she said.
The commissioner said she also discussed the matter with the Prosecutor's Office.
A spokeswoman for County Controller Raymond McHugh said Monday he would have no comment about the sheriff's office. Calls to District Attorney David Heckler's office went unanswered.
Ellis-Marseglia would not elaborate on the complaints except to say they included allegations of mismanagement, questionable spending, and some of the same kind of political misconduct outlined in the 240-page grand jury presentment against longtime Register of Wills Barbara Reilly.
In that case, prosecutors have accused Reilly and three former and current aides of pressuring employees to work on political campaigns inside and outside the office, illegally paying them with compensatory time, then destroying evidence as investigators closed in.
Reilly is a Republican. So are Heckler and McHugh, whose offices led the investigation into her activities.
Ellis-Marseglia is the lone Democrat on the board of commissioners.
Donnelly, a Republican, has been sheriff since 2003. He came to the job after serving as police chief in Lower Southampton Township.
Donnelly told the Bucks County Courier Times last week that he was unaware of a grand jury investigation involving his office, but knew that the county Controller's Office was examining firearms certifications for some deputies.
Browndorf's lawyer declined to discuss what the deputy planned to tell the grand jury. He insisted that Browndorf was not a target or a subject in the probe, just a witness.
"It's totally informational," Tinari said.
------ ___
To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/inquirer.
Copyright (c) 2011, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544)
