Arnold, who has held the elected office since 1994, was the subject of a bitter reelection challenge in the spring primary that led to criminal charges against her opponent, Donald Skomsky, 58.
An anonymous mass mailing that was highly critical of Arnold was traced to Skomsky and his wife, Valerie Palfy, 47, both of West Chester. The couple, who are scheduled for trial next week, were charged with forgery and conspiracy.
The letters listed ways in which Arnold allegedly abused her powers, stating that she was under scrutiny from the Judicial Conduct Board for inappropriate action in cases involving son Forrest C. Solomon Jr., 34, who has a 12-year history of convictions ranging from indecent assault to drug offenses.
The Judicial Conduct Board complaint focused on a case involving an altercation on Jan. 19, 2010, between Solomon and half-brother Jonathan Arnold, 29, a Birmingham Township police officer. Both live with Rita Arnold.
The complaint said a citation for assault was issued by a state trooper against Solomon but was not put into the court record for nearly three months. As a result, Solomon's probation officer could not take any action against him on the new charge because he did not know about it, the complaint said.
Arnold's office manager testified that the judge told her to "hold onto" the citation until instructed otherwise, to avoid adversely affecting "Solomon's probationary status." When troopers questioned Arnold about the fact that the citation had not been docketed, Arnold said "her court was really backlogged," the complaint said.
Once the citation was docketed on April 5, Arnold violated procedure again by transferring the case to District Judge Mark Bruno in West Chester without the requisite transfer order from MacElree, the complaint said.
