Dunn could face multiple penalties under Pa. laws

WILKES-BARRE – Brian Dunn could face quick suspension without pay from his state Department of Revenue job, department Deputy Press Secretary Elizabeth Brassell said.

He also could be removed from the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board under the state school code and barred from running for the board ever again. And the state Ethics Act allows penalties that might apply, including paying back three times as much as was gained through bribes or payoffs in exchange for work or a district contract, if he is found guilty.

The penalty at the Department of Revenue would almost certainly be the swiftest, since it doesn’t require a conviction. Brassell said Dunn falls under the Governor’s Code of Conduct, which calls for suspension without pay “as soon as practicable after an employee has been charged” with a felony.

If convicted, “such employee shall be terminated,” according to the code. Brassell said Dunn’s current annual salary is $55,844.

Dunn works out of the department’s Wilkes-Barre office as a revenue enforcement agent. According to a job description provided by Brassell, that involves conducting “criminal and tax investigations of multi-state businesses and individuals involving Liquid Fuels Tax, Fuel Use Tax, Oil Company Franchise Tax, Motor Carriers Road Tax, and Bus Compact Tax.”

The job can also involve “surveillance of suspected persons and places,” interviews and interrogations of witnesses and suspects, as well as making arrests and executing searches pursuant to warrants.

Dunn could also face separate penalties under the state School Code and the state Ethics Act.

Department of Education spokesman Michael Race cited Section 326 of the school code, which says any school board member who accepts or receives money or something else of value “for voting for or against, or for withholding his vote for or against, any appointment or matter or action” by the board would be guilty of a misdemeanor. On conviction, that person “shall forfeit his office and shall not be eligible again to hold office” that falls under school code purview.

Dunn could also face fines up to $500 and prison time up to one year under the school code.

The state Ethics Act also has penalties for bribery that could be applied to school board members, Ethics Commission Executive Director John Contino said. For those penalties to apply, however, someone would have to file a complaint with the Ethics Commission.

The penalties include up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each count in a criminal conviction.

The Ethics Act also allows for “treble damages” levied against “any person who obtains financial gain” from violating the provisions of the law. A person can be forced to pay back three times “the amount of the financial gain resulting from such violation.”

The money is supposed to go into the state treasury or the coffers of a local political subdivision.

But the Ethics Commission doesn’t take action simply because a person has been charged by other authorities, Contino said. In fact, it’s rare to start an investigation when there is already one under way by someone else. “Typically we don’t want to cross paths with other agencies.”

Neither law requires Dunn to step down from his post on the school board as a result of the charges being filed.

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