{"id":13596,"date":"2013-01-31T12:11:53","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T17:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=13596"},"modified":"2013-01-31T12:11:53","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T17:11:53","slug":"chesco-jurist-indicted-in-alleged-ticket-fixing-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=13596","title":{"rendered":"Chesco jurist indicted in alleged ticket-fixing conspiracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magisterial District Judge Mark A. Bruno accused in Phila. Traffic Court case<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

\"seal\"<\/a>A West Chester magisterial district judge was one of nine jurists indicted in a far-reaching, alleged ticket-fixing conspiracy in Philadelphia Traffic Court, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

The defendants include Michael J. Sullivan and Michael Lowry, sitting Traffic Court judges; Robert Mulgrew, Willie Singletary, and Thomasine Tynes, former Traffic Court judges;\u00a0\u00a0Mark A. Bruno,\u00a0 a Chester County magisterial district judge who works in West Chester; \u00a0 H. Warren Hogeland, a Bucks County senior magisterial district judge; Kenneth Miller, Delaware County senior district judge; Fortunato N. Perri, Sr., senior judge, Traffic Court; William Hird,\u00a0 former director of records, Traffic Court; Henry P. Alfano and Robert Moy, area businessmen.<\/p>\n

According to the 77-count indictment, Philadelphia ward leaders, local politicians, and associates of the Democratic City Committee regularly contacted defendants seeking preferential treatment on specific tickets.\u00a0 Additionally, defendants were regularly contacted by family, friends and associates seeking a \u201cbreak\u201d on tickets.\u00a0 These defendants accepted these requests and either gave the preferential treatment directly or communicated the request to another judge to whom the case was assigned.<\/p>\n

The indictment said tickets were \u201cfixed\u201d by either being dismissed, finding the ticket holder \u201cnot guilty,\u201d or finding the ticket-holder guilty of a lesser offense.\u00a0 In many cases, the ticket-holder did not even appear in Traffic Court, yet their ticket was \u201cfixed.\u201d\u00a0 As a result, these ticket-holders paid lesser or no fines and costs, and evaded the assessment of \u201cpoints\u201d on their driver\u2019s record.\u00a0 This widespread \u201cticket-fixing\u201d defrauded both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia of funds, and allowed potentially unsafe drivers to remain on the roads, the indictment said.<\/p>\n

The defendants allegedly used their personal assistants and courtroom staff to communicate requests to \u201cfix tickets\u201d to other judges.\u00a0 The indictment further alleges that the conspiracy also involved a cover-up, which consisted of shredding paperwork, speaking in code, and trusting only certain individuals to carry out the fraud scheme.<\/p>\n

Three judges \u2013 \u00a0Lowry, Mulgrew, and Tynes \u2013 are each charged with committing perjury before the federal grand jury.\u00a0 Singletary and Hird are each charged with lying to the FBI when they were approached and asked questions about ticket-fixing at Traffic Court.<\/p>\n

The indictment said Alfano regularly gave defendant Perri free auto repairs, free towing, free videos, and free seafood\u00a0 in exchange for \u201cfixing\u201d tickets.\u00a0 According to the indictment, Alfano would give Perri traffic citation numbers, the names of offenders, or the actual citations to arrange \u201cfixing\u201d the ticket.\u00a0 Perri conveyed the information to Hird, who conveyed the request to the assigned judge, the indictment said.<\/p>\n

Court-authorized intercepted telephone conversations reveal that Perri prioritized assisting Alfano, and Alfano made sure to take care of Perri. Perri told Alfano: \u201cWhen you call, I move, brother, believe me.\u00a0 I move everybody.\u201d\u00a0 After multiple free repairs on his cars and family members\u2019 cars, Perri allegedly told Alfano their relationship was \u201cbecoming like a one-way street. I like a two-way street.\u201d\u00a0Alfano responded: \u201cIf I need something, you\u2019re going to do it,\u201d the indictment said.<\/p>\n

The indictment said Bruno, 50, who could receive up to 60 years in prison, requested assistance from Perri to fix a ticket for \u201cJ.M\u201d in January 2011. During a Jan. 14, 2011, phone call, Perri took credit for \u201cputting\u201d Bruno in Traffic Court, the indictment said. It said other judges sometimes filled in for the Traffic Court jurists when they were on vacation.<\/p>\n

Hird, it is alleged, was extremely loyal to Perri given that Perri helped Hird move up the ladder to a high-level administrator at Traffic Court.\u00a0 Recorded conversations demonstrate that Hird acceded to Perri\u2019s requests to \u201cfix\u201d certain tickets.\u00a0 Given Hird\u2019s position at Traffic Court and access to the judges, Hird was allegedly able to facilitate requests for ticket fixing, not only for Perri, but also for various Philadelphia ward leaders, the indictment said.<\/p>\n

Sullivan, in addition to requests from ward leaders, also assisted friends and customers of his bar, the Fireside Tavern.\u00a0 According to the indictment, Sullivan directed associates who wanted their tickets \u201cfixed\u201d to leave them at his tavern, where they were placed in a box behind the bar.\u00a0 Sullivan would assure his associates that the ticket would be \u201cfixed.\u201d\u00a0 In one recorded call, Sullivan told a ticket holder, \u201cI know you\u2019re broke\u201d and \u201cit don\u2019t matter which judge would be hearing the case, because \u201cyou\u2019re good,\u201d meaning the \u201cfix\u201d was conveyed, the indictment said.<\/p>\n

Moy, who owned \u201cNumber One Translations,\u201d a business located in Philadelphia, would guarantee paying customers favorable results on their Traffic Court citations, based on his relationship with both Singletary and Tynes, the indictment said.\u00a0 According to the indictment, Moy even advertised in a local newspaper that he \u201ctackles the traffic ticket, and guarantees no points or fewer points.\u201d\u00a0 Ticket holders took their citations to defendant Moy, paid Moy hundreds of dollars in cash, were instructed not to appear in Traffic Court, and ultimately were found not guilty by either Tynes or Singletary, the indictment said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the conspiracy charging a longstanding and widespread practice of fixing tickets, the indictment specifically lists 50 separate citations as being \u201cfixed.\u201d\u00a0 These tickets involved driving at unsafe speeds, driving an unregistered vehicle, texting while driving, operating an ATV on the highway, running a red light, making a prohibited u-turn, careless driving, not using a child safety restraint, and towing a vehicle without a towing agreement, among others. Yet, these ticket holders unjustly incurred no penalties for their vehicle code violations, the indictment said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur judicial system requires that the finder of fact determine guilt or innocence impartially,\u201d said United States Attorney Zane D. Memeger.\u00a0 \u201cIgnoring this basic rule of justice, the judges in this case allegedly routinely \u201cfixed\u201d traffic tickets by giving preferential treatment to people with whom they were politically and socially connected.\u00a0 In addition to depriving the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of funds rightfully owed by traffic violators, their corrupt conduct also undermined the confidence that law-abiding citizens have in the Philadelphia Court System.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moneys that would have been received from adjudicated citations would have been equally divided between the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, money that would have helped fund emergency medical services training; MCARE, which helps compensate people injured by medical malpractice; and the Access to Justice Fund, which provides money for legal aid for low income people and victims of domestic violence, Memeger said.<\/p>\n

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Magisterial District Judge Mark A. Bruno accused in Phila. Traffic Court case A West Chester magisterial district judge was one of nine jurists indicted in a far-reaching, alleged ticket-fixing conspiracy in Philadelphia Traffic Court, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office announced Thursday. The defendants include Michael J. Sullivan and Michael Lowry, sitting Traffic Court judges; Robert Mulgrew, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,317],"tags":[2604,2605,2606,2607],"class_list":["post-13596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-region","tag-mark-a-bruno","tag-philadelphia-traffic-court","tag-ticket-fixing","tag-united-states-attorney-zane-d-memeger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}