RIDGWAY — A state investigation into alleged double-dipping by Elk County Sheriff’s Office deputies will not result in criminal charges against the county law enforcement branch or its members, officials said Thursday.
After months of probing alleged work-schedule discrepancies and over-compensation of deputies, a Pennsylvania State Police investigator has recommended against a criminal prosecution in the case, according to a joint statement issued Thursday.
The release — attributed to Elk County’s Sheriff’s Office, Board of Commissioners and District Attorney — says as a result, “a criminal prosecution of any member of the Elk County Sheriff’s Office shall not occur.”
The Elk County Commissioners and Sheriff’s Office are reported to have “jointly addressed administratively” issues unearthed in the investigation, namely the over-payment of $700.00 to a deputy that “could not be justified or explained by the Office of the Elk County Sheriff.”
The statement says the amount has since been repaid to the county and all other incidents of conflicting work schedules and compensation were explained away by the investigator.
Acting sheriff Theresa Merritt described the investigation as a “long” and “exhaustive” process, but said she felt vindicated by the findings.
“They went through everything just to make sure there was absolutely nothing we could be blamed for, and there wasn’t, and everyone in my office was cleared,” she said.
The process started months ago with a look into moonlighting sheriff’s deputies by the Elk County Board of Commissioners. The board — prompted by complaints about sheriff’s deputies not responding to incidents while on call — began reviewing the sheriff’s office work schedules as well as those of area law enforcement agencies where part-time sheriff’s deputies were also employed.
The commissioners reportedly uncovered conflicts, or overlaps, in the schedules where sheriff’s deputies were reporting time worked for both the Sheriff’s Office and other municipal law enforcement agencies on certain days.
The commissioners’ findings were referred to the district attorney, who referred them to an outside state police investigator for an independent investigation.
The commissioners said they were acting in the interest of county taxpayers by launching the probe. In response, the sheriff’s office threatened legal action, arguing the investigation exceeded county authority and threatened to effectively blacklist deputies from area law enforcement rosters.
The county, in Thursday’s statement, says it’s “satisfied with the conclusion of the investigation as all the issues and conflicts identified above have been explained and addressed as a result.”
