Sherrif Pete DeFazio needs to resign. There, I said it. This guy has been at the helm of corruption in Allegheny County for far to long. Anyone with a set of eyes could see it. But the good ol' boy network is begining to finally crack as some begin to wonder where all the money went.
Several Allegheny County sheriff's deputies yesterday portrayed their department's "white shirts" -- the command staff -- as a cabal of loyalists to Sheriff Pete DeFazio who constantly pressured them into buying fund-raising tickets to finance DeFazio's re-election campaign.
Among those loyalists was Frank Schiralli, a captain who they said expected them to buy tickets for DeFazio's many fund-raisers, including his annual Mother's Day brunch, golf outings at Churchill Valley Country Club and other events, such as "Evenings with Pete DeFazio." Schiralli is now under investiagtion for using his influence to fix a DUI case in Texas.
They said Schiralli kept a list of those who contributed and those who did not, which was then given to DeFazio's No. 2 man, Chief Deputy Dennis Skosnik. Those who didn't contribute, they said, were punished with bad work assignments, undesirable hours or reprimands for misconduct for which others who had bought tickets weren't admonished.
Deputy William Kisner and other deputies testified in the second day of Schiralli's federal trial on perjury, the first charges to emerge from a grand jury probe of DeFazio's office that began in January.
Schiralli, 52, of McKees Rocks, was indicted in May along with Lt. Cmdr. Richard A. Stewart, 57, of Penn Hills. Stewart's case is pending. The case focuses on complaints that employees were coerced or threatened into buying fund-raising tickets and suffered retaliation if they refused.
In the meantime, prosecutors are examining other allegations.
The Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS is investigating whether sheriff's office employees pocketed fund-raiser ticket sale proceeds and didn't pay taxes on the income. Prosecutors have said some of the money collected for DeFazio's campaign never made it into his campaign account. In addition, prosecutors said in court papers this week that Schiralli ordered deputies to travel to Texas to fix a drunken driving case. No other details of that allegation have been revealed.
Post-Gazette
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