Montco assistant D.A. is fired

By Mari A. Schaefer, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Posted: May 19, 2012

A Montgomery County assistant district attorney has been fired after “serious discrepancies” were discovered in the unit she oversaw, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Karen Grace Ricca, who oversaw the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition unit (ARD), was terminated Thursday during a regularly scheduled meeting of the county’s salary board. No official reason was given and efforts to reach Ricca were unsuccessful.

ARD is a pretrial program for first-time nonviolent offenders who agree to certain conditions and are closely supervised by the courts.

Contacted about Ricca’s dismissal, the District Attorney’s Office released a statement in which District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said her office had monitored the results of the ARD program and discovered, “to our dismay, that there were serious discrepancies.”

After reviewing the facts, Ferman said, she concluded Ricca’s “conduct was entirely inconsistent with the high standards we have tried to maintain. She has therefore been terminated, effective immediately.”

Ferman wrote that the matter remains under investigation, and she would not comment on the specifics.

Ricca, a graduate of Cabrini College and Widener University Law School, joined the District Attorney’s Office in April 1990. She became head of the ARD program in August 1992. She has an active Pennsylvania law license with no disciplinary reports.

Her annual salary was $79,974. according to Frank Custer, communications director for the county.

Contact Mari A. Schaefer at 610-892-9149, mschaefer@phillynews.com of on Twitter @marischaefer.