Suit: Cops punish suspected leak source
State police captain transferred

By Nicole Weisensee Egan
Philadelphia Daily News

The Pennsylvania State Police have retaliated against a captain they believe leaked internal state police e-mails to the Daily News about controversial underage drinking sweeps into two Philadelphia bars linked to union leader John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty last year, according to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court July 28.

On July 26, the state police abruptly transferred Capt. Darrell Ober, who was director of operations for the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, to the Bureau of Emergency and Special Operations in Hershey, a place known as the "Dog House," "the Penalty Box," and the "Sin Bin," the lawsuit says.

"Ober was given an old metal desk to work at in the middle of the garage bay of the dog kennel," the 36-page lawsuit filed in the Middle District in Harrisburg says. "Ober had no privacy but there was no need for any given the fact he had nothing to do."

Don Bailey, Ober's attorney, noted that on Monday, state police internal affairs investigators grilled Ober about whether he gave the e-mails to the Daily News.

Afterward, state cops locked Ober out of his office at the liquor bureau, confiscated his laptop, building and desk keys, cell phone and pager, and blocked him from access to the state police e-mail system. He then received a written order from Lt. Col. Ralph Periandi announcing his new duties.

"It's an illegal transfer," Bailey said, who alleges in the lawsuit that his client's First Amendment rights were violated by the retaliation. "They believe he's the leak to the Daily News so he's being punished for their suspicion of that."

Trooper Linette Quinn, a spokeswoman for State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller, declined to comment.

Last November, the Daily News reported that Miller said he initiated inspections at the two bars based on tips from state Sen. Vince Fumo.

Fumo and Dougherty were bitter political rivals at the time but have since made up. Miller said he took the information from Fumo and gave it to his righthand man, Periandi. Periandi passed it on to liquor cops as information from a "credible source," according to internal state police e-mails obtained by the Daily News.

Seventeen people were arrested on two inspections at Doc's Union Pub, 2nd and Mifflin streets, last year.

Dougherty is part-owner of the building that houses the pub. Dougherty also owned Cecelia's Vine Street Pub, Vine Street near 2nd, at the time. While the e-mails said the tipster claimed underage drinking was going on at Cecelia's, no underage drinkers were ever arrested there. Dougherty has since sold the bar.

Last July, Ober drafted a memo expressing his concerns about the inspections to Miller and attached the state police e-mails. He submitted it to his supervisor, Major Leonard McDonald, and Bailey, his attorney.

The memo has never been made public before. Bailey attached it and the e-mails as an exhibit in Ober's suit. Ober's memo was subsequently used to launch an internal affairs investigation into the inspections but nothing came of it, Bailey said.

In the memo, Ober notes that Periandi refuses to identify the "credible source" that provided the tips but that he suspects it is Fumo, Dougherty's "political enemy," which has him concerned about the state police being used as a "private political force for a member of the General Assembly," the memo states.

"Our files could easily cause the viewer to conclude that Fumo used the state police to set up an investigation into Doc's in exchange for political favors," Ober wrote. "The fact that violations were found is irrelevant.

"Worse yet, if Sen. Fumo traded political support in return for the use of the state police power to injure a political opponent, those involved may have violated the criminal and civil laws of the commonwealth, to say nothing of the breech of public trust, abuse of office and ethical and/or moral violations. Moreover, the civil rights of John Dougherty and any others subjected to an improper investigation may have been violated."

Ober also noted in his memo that, shortly before the first inspections at Doc's Union Pub, Miller met with Fumo to get his support for his confirmation for state police commissioner, even as a state police criminal investigation into special liquor-sales permits at Fumo's office was going on.

After the inspection on Feb. 9, which resulted in eight arrests, Ober noted that the state police probe into Fumo's office "had been stalled," the memo said.

Dougherty, business manager of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said he's not surprised by the contents of Ober's memo.

"We're still pursuing legal action and, after we review this lawsuit, we will be demanding that the authorities take proper action," he said. "This isn't over."

Gary Tuma, Fumo's spokesman, noted that Fumo has never confirmed he tipped off the state police.

"This guy was acting on supposition," Tuma said, referring to the comments about Fumo in Ober's memo.