By Mark Gilger
The News-Item
SUNBURY — During his 3 1/2 hours on the witness stand Monday, former Northumberland County deputy sheriff Joseph Jones, who was fired more than five years ago, denied viewing pornography on his work computer. He also testified there was no computer policy in the sheriff’s office when he worked there and employees had access to each other’s user names and passwords.
Joseph Jones served as the lone witness on the first day of what’s expected to be a two-week civil jury trial involving a defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit filed in January 2010 by Jones and former deputy sheriff Michael Boris against county Commissioner Vinny Clausi, former Sheriff Chad Reiner and the county. The lawsuit stems from an investigation into a porn-viewing scandal in the sheriff’s office.
Boris and Jones, who are neighbors in Mount Carmel, were fired Jan. 13, 2010, by Reiner for violating the department’s computer policy by failing to secure their passwords and not making sure no inappropriate material was retrieved using their passwords.
They have claimed Clausi ordered them fired because they were investigating him for allegedly being involved in an illegal gambling operation. Clausi has denied their allegations and was never charged in any probe.
Boris is expected to testify today.
Also scheduled to testify are Clausi, Reiner and approximately 20 other witnesses. Reiner was absent from Monday’s proceedings, which originally were only scheduled to involve jury selection. But Columbia-Montour County President Judge Thomas A. James Jr. started the trial in the afternoon after a jury of six men and six women was selected by 11:30 a.m.
The jurors are from Northumberland (2), Milton (3), Turbotville (1), Herndon (1), Elysburg (2), Sunbury (2) and Watsontown (1). A male alternate is from Watsontown.
Jurors were selected from a pool of 115 candidates.
James is presiding at the trial because Northumberland County Judges William H. Wiest, Charles Saylor and Anthony Rosini recused themselves from hearing the case due to a potential conflict of interest.
Attorney Douglas N. Engelman, of Williamsport, is representing Jones and Boris. Attorneys Michael Apfelbaum and Michael Kula, of Sunbury, are serving as defense counsel.
‘There’s porn on your computer’
Jones, who was a Sunbury police officer for 20 years before retiring and becoming a lieutenant with the sheriff’s department in 2008, testified he has been unable to secure employment since he was fired.
He said there are two computer systems in the sheriff’s office, including a database and one with Internet access.
Jones said Reiner instructed employees to have their user names posted on the front of their computers so they were readily available to everyone in the office.
Jones said there was no computer policy in the office.
The former deputy sheriff said he became aware of a problem with someone viewing pornography in the department Dec. 13, 2009, when Reiner summoned him to his office.
He recalled Reiner stating, “There’s porn on your computer and Mike’s (Boris) computer.”
Jones said he asked Reiner what he was talking about, to which he replied, “Vinny (Clausi) is having a fit. They want you fired.”
The plaintiff testified that he was accused of viewing pornography Nov. 19 and Nov. 20, 2009, an allegation he denied.
Jones said he remembered telling Reiner, “It’s not me, I didn’t do this.” He also recalled Chief Deputy Sheriff Randy Coe, who shared an office with Jones, stating, “I told you Chad, it’s not Joe.”
Jones said he first witnessed in the summer of 2009 some wrongdoing in the sheriff’s department that didn’t involve pornography.
He claimed one of the county commissioners (presumably Clausi although he was not mentioned by name during the testimony) was involved in an illegal gambling operation. Jones said he and Boris initiated an investigation by contacting agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and FBI.
He said the probe, which involved the two former deputy sheriffs gathering information about Clausi, came to a halt after their terminations.
Jones said he and Boris later informed then deputy sheriff Matt Henrich of the investigation before learning that Henrich is a son-in-law of Janet Povish, an administrative assistant and acting assistant chief clerk in the commissioners’ office. Fearing word would get back to Clausi, Jones said he and Boris stopped talking to Henrich about the investigation.
Henrich left the sheriff’s department to become a Coal Township police officer. He is currently a county adult probation officer.
Jones recalled Reiner asking him to “write himself up” for playing games on the Internet because Clausi was being “relentless.” He said Reiner told him the “case would be closed” after he “wrote himself up” for the violation.
He said Reiner also requested Boris to write himself up for misconduct.
Jones said he and Boris agreed to the write-ups, but never admitted to the violations.
The witness testified that Clausi claimed Boris threatened him about launching an investigation against the commissioner and told him he should resign. Jones said Boris never threatened Clausi, but wanted to file a harassment complaint against the commissioner, but was advised against it by Reiner and Tony Matulewicz, solicitor for the sheriff’s department.
During the controversy that led to the firings, Jones recalled Reiner repeatedly stating, “I’m never going to be sheriff again.”
He said Reiner was “absolutely petrified” of Clausi.
On the day they were fired, Jones said Reiner handed him a piece of paper and said, “You are terminated.”
Entries displayed
During his cross examination, Apfelbaum displayed numerous entries that were on Jones’ computer Nov. 19, 2009, including work-related sites, MapQuest and pornography websites. The lawyer said the computer was logged on as jjones.
Apfelbaum said work records showed Robert Wolfe, who was a deputy sheriff at the time before later succeeding Reiner as sheriff, and Henrich went to transport a prisoner from Montgomery County in the Philadelphia area to Northumberland County on Nov. 19, 2009, meaning they couldn’t have logged onto Jones’ computer during the time frame he covered in court.
In his opening statement to the jury, Apfelbaum claimed Wolfe viewed some pornography and Henrich sent some improper emails on their computers. He said both were reprimanded by Reiner for their alleged actions.
Wolfe and Henrich reserved comment about Apfelbaum’s statement when contacted by The News-Item after court recessed for the day. Neither Wolfe nor Henrich was previously implicated in any wrongdoing.
Apfelbaum also pointed out that former deputy sheriff Tom Drust and employees at the county 911 center were fired for allegedly viewing pornography on work computers.
He claimed his clients went through the proper procedures in firing Jones and Boris.
“There was a problem with pornography in the sheriff’s office, Mr. Boris and Mr. Jones got caught and got fired. Now, they want to be paid money,” Apfelbaum told the jurors.
Engelman painted a different picture by claiming Clausi pressured Reiner into firing Boris and Jones because of their involvement in the investigation against Clausi.
“He (Clausi) bullied and intimidated people around him,” Engelman said in his opening statement.
Five years
The case has lingered for five years with plenty of legal maneuvering on both sides. There was speculation that the trial may be moved to Columbia County and a jury would be selected from outside Northumberland County due to the high level of publicity surrounding the case.
Clausi, at a Dec. 29, 2009, commissioners’ meeting, said a two-week surveillance of computer use in the sheriff’s department uncovered excessive, non-work-related browsing of the Internet - one occasion for 6 1/2 hours - that included viewing pornography. He said the offenses involved two employees. He never revealed their names publicly, but threatened to do so if Reiner didn’t address the issue.
In October 2013, James issued a gag order in the defamation lawsuit after Engelman claimed Clausi had attempted to “try the case publicly.”
In October 2012, James dismissed Clausi’s $3 million defamation lawsuit filed in 2010 against Jones, Boris and their former attorney, Gregory Stuck. James also dismissed a countersuit the two former deputies filed against Stuck.