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By RICK ROGERS; Times Leader Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 03, 1996 Page: 1A
WILKES-BARRE — The bucks stopped here this week for embattled county
employee Eugene Duffy Jr.
Duffy, 34, no longer draws a paycheck from the county, according to Luzerne
County Courthouse records released Monday. He will not be paid the $1,299.04
for the two-week pay period ending Dec. 5, said Thomas Dugan, deputy
controller.
A new employment policy addressing court-appointed employees charged with
crimes was issued last week by Judge Patrick Toole Jr., Luzerne County Court
of Common Pleas president judge.
Duffy was placed on administrative paid leave on April 25 and was paid
about $20,000 during his suspension. If found not guilty, he will receive back
pay.
Duffy might qualify for state unemployment compensation, said Joseph
Warmus, manager of the Wyoming Valley Job Center. Warmus said anyone can file
a claim, but that each one is examined on a case-by-case basis for its merit.
Northampton County Senior Judge Richard Grifo heard oral arguments in
Easton on Nov. 25 on whether a Wilkes-Barre district justice was correct in
forwarding Duffy’s case to common pleas court.
Defense attorney John P. Moses asked Grifo to expedite his decision
because, he said, he feared Toole’s decision would affect his client. Grifo
said he would issue his ruling soon, but as of Monday, no decision had been
made.
In the new 10-page county policy , Toole said court-appointed employees
such as Duffy, who earns $33,775 a year as a county adult probation officer,
would be suspended without pay if charged with a crime related to their
position, or with a felony. Duffy’s medical benefits also were curtailed.
Duffy, son of Luzerne County Prothonotary Eugene E. Duffy, was suspended
from his job after state Attorney General investigators charged him with
altering the probation records of attorney Gifford R. Cappellini.
The younger Duffy allegedly failed to properly monitor Cappellini, who was
sentenced to probation on a drug charge.
State investigators are examining whether anyone else was involved in an
alleged plot to gloss over the fact that Cappellini was supposed to be drug
tested but had not been tested for six months. When Cappellini was drug
tested, he failed.
Cappellini is the son of county senior judge Gifford S. Cappellini. The
judge’s daughter, Dodie Cappellini, also works in the adult probation
department.
Duffy, of West Hazleton, could not be reached for comment Monday.