Misconduct

BACK IN APRIL, an attorney for a female employee at the Philadelphia Housing Authority dropped a bombshell on top city and state officials. The attorney accused PHA Executive Director Carl R. Greene of "serial predatory sexual misconduct" against female staffers and called for an immediate investigation into Greene's "well-known" and repeated violations of federal and state laws that prohibit workplace sexual harassment. John M. Elliott, of the politically connected Elliott Greenleaf & Siedzikowski law firm, sent copies of his April 21 letter to Gov. Rendell, Mayor Nutter, City Controller Alan Butkovitz, city Inspector General Amy Kurland, City Council President Anna Verna, PHA board chairman John Street and four other PHA commissioners.

HER BACK PRESSED against the wall, Dagma Rodriguez stood in a dark bedroom as Officer Thomas Tolstoy moved closer. She trembled in fear. It was just after 5 p.m. on April 3, 2008, during a drug raid on the West Kensington rowhouse where she lived. Tolstoy had ordered her into the room, telling her that he needed to talk, she said. "He started rubbing my breasts, rubbing my nipples," said Rodriguez, a 33-year-old mother of three. "I was so scared. My legs wouldn't stop shaking.

Eric Lindros will be on the ice tonight against the San Jose Sharks. Yesterday morning, NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell telephoned Flyers coach Roger Neilson in Chicago to say he was rescinding the game-misconduct penalty charged to Lindros in the Flyers' 3-2 victory Saturday night against the Blackhawks. "They've cleared him to play," Neilson said. "They looked at a tape [Saturday] night, so we didn't have to send them one. They said they're sending a fax to confirm that Eric can play.

An attorney for a fired East Pikeland police officer said in a civil court proceeding last week that he had evidence indicating that East Pikeland Police Chief Kirby Bloomquist had sex with various women while he was on duty. Jeffrey Abramson, an attorney for fired Officer Scott Blevins, raised the allegations in court Wednesday as he requested permission to introduce sworn statements by three women in a civil court appeal of Blevins' firing. In an interview, Bloomquist responded that the sex accusations were an "absolute smear campaign.

Just three hours before he was to face an inquiry yesterday into possible neglect of duty and administrative misconduct, authorities said, a Waterford police officer resigned. Patrolman Albert Hrosik, 38, a fouryear veteran, turned in his badge, gun and uniforms at police headquarters. He was one of six officers in the 23- member Police Department under internal investigation for possible misconduct, said Gary Stowell, legal counsel for the township and former police chief in neighboring Winslow Township.

A York County author yesterday filed suit against Commonwealth Court Judge Doris A. Smith alleging that she is interfering with the sale of his self-published book about judicial misconduct in Pennsylvania. The suit, filed by William Keisling in York County Court, alleges that Smith, through an attorney, sent letters to booksellers to "intimidate" them into not selling We All Fall Down, which details the impeachment of former state Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen. Specifically, Smith disputes Keisling's account of a 1994 meeting they had at a Plymouth Meeting book-signing for a prior book, When the Levee Breaks.

During his swan song yesterday in a Gloucester County courtroom, the Glassboro public defender pleaded guilty to official misconduct and drug charges, gave up his job, and then thanked the Prosecutor's Office and two of its investigators who handled the criminal charges against him. "I'm a young black man in a group that has often had unfavorable experiences with the law, and I want to commend the Prosecutor's Office in how they have handled this,"...

One of the city's veteran prosecutors has sued the New York Times for libel, contending that the paper's Sunday magazine falsely accused her of professional misconduct and said her convictions were frequently reversed on appeal. Attorneys for Assistant District Attorney Barbara L. Christie filed the suit in November in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court against the New York Times and reporter Tina Rosenberg, who wrote the July 16 magazine cover story profiling District Attorney Lynne Abraham titled "The Deadliest D.A. " The suit, which seeks in excess of $50,000 in compensatory damages and more than $1 million in punitive damages, was transferred to federal court here last week at the request of Times' attorneys.

Philadelphia City Council President John F. Street said yesterday that the city must form an independent commission to examine systemic police misconduct in order to restore public confidence in the force. Street predicted that an independent panel would be created, although he was vague about how soon. "The votes are there. . . . I think it will happen," he said. Mayor Rendell has been resistant to such a panel, but has not ruled it out. The Council president said even he was not exempt from the fear black men feel when they encounter police.

The new director of Philadelphia's Police Advisory Commission ran a similar panel in New York during a period when it failed to refer dozens of confirmed cases of police misconduct to the Police Department for disciplinary action. The oversight was discovered during a routine audit by New York's Civilian Complaint Review Board nine months ago. Some details of the audit were made public this week. At least 60 cases in which the New York board investigated citizen complaints and determined that police officers had abused their authority were never forwarded for departmental action, as required by law, the audit found.