Luzerne County DA Sanguedolce presents annual report

Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce highlighted office staffing shortages in his annual report required by the county home rule charter.

The office currently has six open assistant district attorney positions — a “severe shortfall” of 20% that Sanguedolce attributes to high caseloads and compensation not keeping pace with the ADA’s education, training and experience, he said in last week’s presentation to council.

ADAs typically must juggle 150 cases on each month’s trial list and prepare between eight and 30 cases for trial each month, “learning literally the morning of trial which case will be brought before a jury,” he said.

Councilman Brian Thornton asked the DA if he has any recommendations for council to assist with the staff shortage.

Salary “is the number one thing to consider” in future union contract negotiations, Sanguedolce replied.

“I know it’s always unpopular to offer more money, but I think across the board in this county, we’re seeing that we’re not getting the types of applications that we used to see,” Sanguedolce said.

The quality of job seekers rises with higher pay, which “more than makes up for the increase,” he said.

More similarly-sized counties have been raising the ADA pay to attract career prosecutors equipped to take on increasingly complicated cases, breaking from the old philosophy that the county DA’s office was merely a launching pad for attorneys to gain experience before advancing to better-paying private practice, he said.

Locally, the county’s last union contract with unionized assistant district attorneys/public defenders, which was awarded through binding arbitration, increased starting salaries for new hires to $51,083 this year for full-timers and $34,165 for part-timers, a past published report said. That contract expires the end of this year.

ADAs love the job but often resign because they can’t raise a family on what they receive when they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, he said.

The office faces similar hiring difficulties with secretaries and clerks, he said. At least 10 support staff positions are now open. Multiple employees left for other employment — many in other county departments — for substantial raises, he said.

“It’s difficult for me to accurately express the frustration in the fact that we receive applications, screen the employees and spend months training them. We figure out which are good and which are not so good. And then the good ones are known throughout the courthouse and are offered a raise to work in some other office, and we’re starting back from scratch,” Sanguedolce said. He did not know the solution but said he “can only hope our labor shortage is soon coming to an end.”

The office has implemented cross training and restructuring of support staff to ensure all criminal courtroom requirements are completed, he said.

During the span of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanguedolce said four office division chiefs left — two for deputy attorney general positions paying $20,000 more, one to be a judge’s clerk for $10,000 more and the last to make an additional $40,000 working for a local criminal defense firm.

Two part-time ADAs retired, and another left to work as a part-time solicitor for $4,000 more, he said.

Sanguedolce said ADA and support staff shortages were “only overcome by the employees taking on tasks over and above normal workloads.” Many staffers stayed late and/or arrived early, often without additional compensation, he said.

Case updates

Despite pandemic challenges, the office brought 40 cases to trial last year, he said. Holding trials also motivates other defendants to stop delaying their entering of guilty pleas, he said, estimating hundreds of cases were resolved through guilty pleas.

The county had 22 homicides or attempted homicides last year, although the office was frustrated only one was brought to trial due to pandemic limitations, he said.

”So as you can imagine, that’s going to put us in quite a situation for the fall — assuming COVID doesn’t come back, knock on wood it doesn’t — and in the spring of 2023, when we’re expecting to be trying these cases.”

Drugs

The office’s Drug Task Force, which is fully funded by money seized from drug traffickers, opened 344 cases and made 120 arrests last year, Sanguedolce reported.

In addition to 36 pounds of marijuana, the following grams of these drugs were collected through task force investigations last year, he said: fentanyl, 17,970; heroin with or without fentanyl, 657; hallucinogens, 1,044; cocaine, 517; crack, 728 and 3.3 ounces; and methamphetamine, 1,634.

The task force also seized 1,755 prescription pills and 104 grams of MDMA, most commonly known as Ecstasy or Molly.

Officers spent $56,205 on controlled substance purchases for the purpose of arresting drug dealers, seized 61 weapons and had 96 cash seizures, he said.

The county had a record 208 drug overdose deaths in 201, including five pending the results of toxicology tests, according to the coroner’s office.

Councilman Chris Perry asked Sanguedolce how council can assist the drug task force in its efforts.

Sanguedolce said he will be asking council to earmark a substantial portion of opioid litigation settlement funding for both drug task force officers and treatment for those suffering from substance use disorder.

The county is expected to receive a “pretty staggering figure” of $25.4 million in compensation from litigation against opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors, he said. This funding can’t be used for roads or infrastructure and must support law enforcement and addiction support services, said Sanguedolce and County Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo.

“This settlement money I think was designed to stop people from dying in Luzerne County,” Sanguedolce said.

Guns and autos

More than a dozen vehicles stolen in the county were recovered through the new Auto Theft Task Force, which is fully funded by a grant from the auto insurance industry to investigate any crimes involving auto theft, Sanguedolce said.

“In fact, we chased a number of automobiles to the Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey area that had been stolen from Luzerne County,” he said.

The DA had previously said the recovered vehicles included a Range Rover and Dodge Hellcat that had ended up in the hands of gang members.

Also fully funded by a grant, the Gun Violence Reduction Task Force has had success arresting people for falsifying reports to obtain weapons, he said.

Budget

Based on unaudited financial information, the DA’s office spent $4.4 million last year, or approximately $338,000 less than budgeted, Sanguedolce said.

He deemed 2021 an “extremely successful year” despite the staffing shortages.

“We were able to bring a number of cases to trial and close and resolve a reasonable amount of open cases despite the difficulties the pandemic thrust upon us,” the DA said, expressing hope the pandemic “continues to dissipate” so the office can get through the backlog of cases awaiting trial.