Posted on 06/19/2010 6:08:51 PM PDT by Born Conservative
PECKVILLE - Teams of FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents raided the Archbald home and Peckville office of retiring state Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow on Friday in an apparent widening of an ongoing public corruption investigation.
The nature of the investigation is unknown, but Mellow's spokeswoman denied he has done anything wrong and said he is cooperating with the investigation.
FBI agents arrived simultaneously at 9 a.m. and executed search warrants at Mellow's Main Street office and his home in the Hills of Archbald housing development, where five unmarked vehicles ringed the senator's corner property, which he recently put on the market. Agents carried a box stuffed with documents and large manila envelopes from the home.
Later, Mellow was seen pulling into the rear parking lot of his Senate office and quickly ducked inside a rear door without speaking to reporters.
The office's front door was locked and taped to it was a sheet on Senate letterhead on which was scrawled "Closed 6/18."
The action was in the rear of the building where the parking lot was filled with a fleet of unmarked federal vehicles.
Kevin L. Wevodau, special agent in charge of the FBI's Scranton office, said Mellow had been back and forth from his home and office in the morning.
Throughout the morning and well into the afternoon, agents removed box after box of material. Many were black or yellow rigid plastic cases with wheels or handles.
Others were banker's boxes filled with stacks of documents sealed in glassine bags. In one case, three agents foisted a large gray garbage can on wheels into the back of an SUV. One commented they were "taking out the trash."
They left the Senate office at 2:30 p.m.
"We don't know what the inquiry is in relation to," said Lisa Scullin, Mellow's press secretary. When asked if Mellow would resign, Scullin said "he is confident he's done nothing wrong."
"The senator is cooperating fully with all the requests," Scullin said. "He is willing to provide any information necessary to complete this inquiry."
Efforts to reach Mellow were unsuccessful.
FBI spokesman Frank Burton Jr. said the agents executed search warrants only at the home and office, but declined to provide copies of them. He said the searches were part of a criminal investigation into unspecified "illegal activities." Mellow's Senate offices in Mount Pocono and Harrisburg were not searched Friday, Burton confirmed.
Last summer, Mellow found himself at the center of controversy when The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that state taxpayers had paid more than $210,000 to rent his Peckville Senate office from a company co-owned first by the senator's then-wife, Diane, then by the senator himself after they divorced. About $48,000 of that money was paid after the senator assumed ownership.
Mellow's chief campaign committee paid more than $47,000 to rent space in the building, Times-Shamrock newspapers later reported. Scullin said the campaign office had separate space in the same building, and later added the senator and his staff had nothing to do with negotiating the leases, which was done by the Senate clerk.
A Times-Shamrock newspapers investigation published in November reported the senator's campaign committee issued more than $188,000 in checks made payable to cash over a nine-year period from 2000 to 2009.
State audits and an auditor for the campaign committee found nothing wrong with the practice, though the campaign auditor suggested halting it. A further Times-Shamrock review of records showed Mellow received more than $38,000 worth of checks made payable to cash between November 2006 and October 2009. Last October, Mellow contributed $28,775 to his committee for unknown reasons.
It is unknown if the rent payments, the checks payable to cash or something else are the focus of Friday's raids.
The joint FBI-IRS probe reflects only part of Mellow's troubles. Harrisburg watchdog groups have filed complaints with the state Ethics Commission, the Senate Ethics Committee and the state attorney general. Though the Senate Ethics Committee dismissed two complaints, the activists refiled them and the committee and commission complaints remain pending.
The complaints center on the Senate office rent deal, and whether Mellow has a conflict of interest in sitting on the board of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Blue Cross spokesman Anthony Matrisciano declined to say if the health insurer was contacted by federal agents. Matrisciano called Mellow "a valuable member of our board."
Last August, FBI agents questioned Diane Mellow at the federal building in downtown Scranton, her lawyer, Janine Pavalone, confirmed, declining to disclose what they asked.
Efforts to reach Mellow were unsuccessful Friday. Pavalone said Mellow would have no comment.
The raid was the second in two months that federal agents carried out on a state senator's home in Northeast Pennsylvania, where an ongoing public corruption probe has netted federal prosecutors judges, lawyers and county commissioners in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.
In April, agents carted off bags of items seized from the Pittston Township home of Sen. Raphael Musto.
Neither Musto nor Mellow has been charged with any wrongdoing.
Both decided they would retire at the end of this year after decades as senators. Mellow was first elected in 1970; Musto in 1982. Musto served in the state House starting in 1971, and briefly later in Congress before moving to the Senate.
Both said they were retiring because they wanted to spend more time with their families. It is not known if the federal investigations were under way before they announced their retirements.
Pittston Township officials released copies of building permits that FBI agents wanted as part of their raid on a home owned by Musto. The permits were for $40,000 worth of renovations on the home and were done by a construction company owned by Luzerne County corruption figure Robert K. Mericle.
Mericle, who developed the Centerpoint Commerce and Trade Park in Jenkins and Pittston townships, has cooperated with federal investigators since pleading guilty last September to failing to report a felony.
It is unknown if Mericle has anything do with the investigation into Mellow, but he has contributed significantly to the senator's campaign.
Since 2003, Mericle or a company he owns has given Mellow's campaign committees $128,395 - all but $5,945 since April 2006 - according to state records. He contributed another $20,800 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, a fund-raising arm for state Senate candidates in which Mellow plays a key role. All but $800 of that was contributed since October 2005. Mericle contributed $33,750 to Musto's campaigns since 2000, but $24,000 of that was contributed since April 2008.
Mellow, who earns $113,000 annually as state Senate Democratic Leader, represents the 22nd Senatorial District, which includes all of Lackawanna County; Avoca, Dupont and Duryea in Luzerne County; and Barrett, Coolbaugh and Paradise townships and Mount Pocono Borough in Monroe County.
While I applaud the efforts of the Feds, I have to wonder why, all of a sudden, they are so gung-ho with their corruption probes. Corruption in this part of PA has been going on for over a century, and nothing was ever done about it.
I have a theory that the Feds are looking to break the power of local and state officials to gain more power for the Feds. Just a theory....
Another ping for Mellow
I’m surprised. He must have said something bad about the Messiah.
They’re weeding out the really bad seeds in the democrat party in order to take away some of the ammunition we’ll be using against them in the fall.
Actually, the Feds came to town (in Northeast PA) during the Bush presidency (keyword “Kidsforcash” on FR). The US Attorney for the area changed under Obama, but the searches, plea deals, and arrests continue.
Wow. They mentioned his Democratic party affiliation in the very first sentence.
“Wow. They mentioned his Democratic party affiliation in the very first sentence.”
You made me look - yep, not a national news source...
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