Posted on 07/13/2010 7:12:32 PM PDT by Born Conservative
Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed more than a dozen staffers working for retiring state Sen. Robert Mellow as part of an ongoing probe into public corruption in Northeast Pennsylvania, sources said Monday.
About 15 staffers at the Democratic leader's offices in Peckville and Harrisburg received the hand-delivered subpoenas beginning last week from the FBI, ordering them to appear before a grand jury sitting in Harrisburg on Aug. 19, sources said.
The subpoenas are the latest development in the federal investigation of Mr. Mellow, whose Peckville office and home were searched by teams of FBI and IRS agents on June 18. The FBI has not disclosed the nature of the investigation, other than to say the searches were part of a criminal investigation into unspecified "illegal activities."
Ethical questions began swirling around Mr. Mellow last summer after 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.
Last month, sources said federal investigators had requested records dealing with the rental of Mr. Mellow's local office from Brad Inc., a company that the senator's ex-wife and later he co-owned.
The company was set up with Diane Mellow and Celestine Giordano as co-owners. Gabriel Giordano, who was an aide to the senator for more than 30 years, retired in 2004. Mr. Mellow gained his wife's half-share of Brad as part of their 2006 divorce. On the same day FBI and IRS agents raided Mr. Mellow's office and home, they also went to the Giordano cottage at Lake Spangenberg.
Another investigation by The Times-Tribune revealed 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. Between 2006 and October 2009, Mr. Mellow received more than $38,000 worth of checks made payable to cash, the investigation revealed. Though state audits and an auditor found nothing wrong with the practice, the campaign auditor suggested halting it.
The raid on Mr. Mellow's house in the Hills of Archbald and his office in Peckville 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 Twp. home of Sen. Raphael Musto.
Neither Mr. Musto nor Mr. Mellow has been charged with any wrongdoing.
Efforts to reach Mr. Mellow were unsuccessful.
In a surprise move, Mr. Mellow, 67, the longest-serving member of the state Senate, announced in February he was retiring. He will qualify for $313,000 a year in retirement, nearly three times his $110,250 salary when he leaves office in November.
Mr. Mellow, who has denied any wrongdoing, was instrumental in steering state aid to the new Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton and before that promoting the former Mount Airy Resort in Monroe County as a location for the slots casino that eventually became Mount Airy Casino Resort. His district includes Lackawanna County and slices of Luzerne and Monroe Counties.
NEPA corruption ping.
From the title I thought the were high on pot! LOL
WOW! 18 DEMOCRATS SUPBPOENAED FOR CORRUPTION- I BET THIS GETS 24/7 COVERAGE
Mellow has been under investigation for so long. He will probably cop a plea for a couple months and keep the retirement. The real hoot is the dopey dims think the way to clean this corruption is to replace him with another Dim.
Just WOW!
ping
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