State police file charges against Frank Scandale, clerk of courts
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
Washington County Clerk of Courts Frank Scandale leaves district court Thursday afternoon.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
Washington County Clerk of Courts Frank Scandale leaves district court Thursday afternoon.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
Barbara S. Miller/O-R
Attorney Ashley Gottron answers questions from reporters after her client, Washington County Clerk of Courts Frank Scandale, was in district court Thursday afternoon.
Four months after an audit showed about $96,000 was missing from the Washington County clerk of courts office, the state police Organized Crime Task Force filed nine counts, including theft, Thursday against officeholder Frank Scandale.
Scandale, 51, of Canonsburg, was accused of voiding cash payments on six separate cases and stealing the money since 2018, police stated in the affidavit. In another case, a money order was used to make a payment and it was never cashed.
In one of the cases, a man confronted Scandale Oct. 1 with his receipt for making a $200 payment, and he complained his record only showed him making a $100 payment. Scandale then checked the man’s payment records on a computer, police stated in charging documents.
“Scandale asked no further questions … handed him back his receipt stating he would take care of it,” police noted in the affidavit.
Scandale later approached an officer worker Oct. 1, handed her $100 and asked her to place the money on the victim’s account, telling her he didn’t need a receipt.
In mid-July, Washington County Controller Michael Namie informed the county commissioners an audit revealed money missing from the clerk of courts office, which handles payments in criminal cases and for various miscellaneous matters.
The commissioners turned Namie’s findings over to state police. The state police investigation noted $50,534 in missing cash deposits this year and $39,714 in missing checks, bringing the total to $96,716, charging documents indicate.
The Chicago-based Baker Tilly Virchow Krause conducted a forensic investigation into the money, which was never deposited, from Scandale’s office and determined the missing funds were consistent with the findings of Namie’s audit.
Scandale was charged with a felony count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, seven misdemeanor counts of theft and one count of misapplication of entrusted property, court records show.
While a motive for the thefts was not revealed Thursday, court documents show Scandale had liens totaling $64,288 filed against him within the past five years at Washington County Court of Common Pleas.
Scandale was arraigned in the case Thursday afternoon before District Judge Robert Redlinger in Washington. Redlinger set bond at $100,000 unsecured, and ordered Scandale to surrender his passport, if he has one, to the county district attorney’s office.
He answered no questions as he left the district judge’s office with a smile on his face.
Representing him at the proceeding was attorney Ashley Gottron of the law firm DeRiso, DeRiso, Suher and Jeffries.
“Unfortunately, at this time, we are still awaiting evidence. Once we review that, we will be able to comment more,” Gottron said. “We will be defending this case vigorously as Frank Scandale does deny all of the allegations.”
Scandale, a Democrat, was elected to public office for the first time in 2015 and ran for a second term this past November, losing with just 42.5% of the vote to former Washington Mayor Brenda Davis, a Republican.
Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi said Thursday morning he was unaware of the impending charges against Scandale.
“I’m not involved in the investigation,” he said. “The investigation was turned over to state police. We cooperated fully with the investigation and we wanted to make sure there was an unbiased investigation into the wrongdoing.
But as events unfolded, he said, “We felt the evidence Mike Namie accumulated warranted further investigation of criminal wrongdoing and we wanted the proper action to be taken.
“It’s a sad day for Washington County that the public trust has been broken. When criminal wrongdoing is brought to our attention, criminal prosecutions will be made.”
Maggi, a retired state trooper and former Washington County sheriff, added, “I’ve intentionally stayed far from this incident because of the appearance of any impropriety.”
Maggi also ran for a four-year term in November and was re-elected, but as word of the “gentleman’s arrest” spread through the Courthouse Square office building and courthouse, politicos were still smarting from the results of the general election.
Retiring Washington County Treasurer Francis King, who will be exiting the office he has held since 1996, blamed Scandale, at least in part, for Democrats’ losses in the recent countywide election.
“It pulled the ticket down,” King said. “I felt betrayed, for one thing, by a fellow Democrat. If he would have at least come clean and said what happened – we still don’t know what happened. I think he should have resigned. We could have put a very good candidate in there. It might have made a difference.”
Democrat Suzanne Archer, as deputy clerk of orphans’ court has worked in the row office for eight years, was seeking the register of wills position. She said of the clerk of courts scandal, “It tarnished all of us. Hopefully now, we can see some resolution and move on.”
She also said there was no hint that anything was amiss in the clerk of courts office. “I didn’t know anything until I heard it from the commissioners,” she said of a mid-July news conference the three members hastily called once Namie had completed his audit.
The race between Archer and Republican James Roman was the closest of any Washington County row office contests, with Archer losing by 759 votes or 1.7%.
Tamera Mankey, deputy clerk of courts who has worked in the row office since 1990, said at the courthouse after Scandale’s arraignment, “We don’t have anything to say right now.”
Scandale was working in the office earlier this week, but was not present in the row office Wednesday or Thursday.
Citing what she called “abysmal internal controls,” President Judge Katherine B. Emery in September issued a lengthy order to provide financial oversight of the clerk of courts office in effort to make sure all policies and procedures would be followed.
As of late Thursday afternoon, she had not amended her previous order and, in response to a question about whether Scandale would have access to the row office, replied, “I don’t have any direct knowledge. Other people have told me he cannot enter. I’m trying to verify that.”
In the event Scandale’s case advances beyond the magisterial level, it seems likely that an out-of-county judge would handle his case.
“I believe there will be a full-bench recusal,” Emery said.
And as to the day-to-day business in the clerk of courts office through the remainder of Scandale’s term, the president judge said, “Tammy, as the deputy, has the authority to sign anything he (Scandale) would sign. She has the authority under the law to do that.”