Legal News

Jury Commissioner Indicted in Luzerne Co. Corruption Probe

By Brian Harris

By Leo Strupczewski
Of the Legal Staff

A sixth Luzerne County courthouse official has been named by federal prosecutors in their ongoing corruption probe there.

Gerald J. Bonner, the county's jury commissioner, was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday for passing a cash bribe from a business owner to a fellow member of the Luzerne County Housing Authority, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney?s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The bribe was less than $5,000, according to the press release. It came from an unnamed business owner who had contracts with the housing authority in 2008 and 2009, according to the press release.

Bonner, 66, faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, if convicted of the aiding and abetting the charge filed against him, the press release said.

When asked about Bonner before federal officials announced the charges, Luzerne County President Judge Chester B. Muroski said the jury commissioner would be stripped of his duties ?upon confirmation of the reported federal grand jury indictment.?

?The court shall ensure that Mr. Bonner refrain from any participation or involvement in any jury selection matters,? Muroski said in a prepared statement. ?As Mr. Bonner is an elected county official, he does not fall within the scope of employment with the court and therefore the court has no right to take any disciplinary personnel action other than to preclude him from jury function.?

Since January, federal prosecutors have entered into plea agreements with former Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan (though they have since withdrawn those pleas), former county court administrator William T. Sharkey Sr. and former deputy director of forensic services Sandra Brulo. Another courthouse official, Jill Moran, resigned from her position as county prothonotary and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on September 01, 2009 (boomark / email).