“At the direc- t i o n o f t h e co ur t, I ha ve made a form al req ues t for an inves tigatio n of irregularities concerning Ms. Secret Se rv ic e an d Pennsylvania Attorn ey Gener- al Linda Kelly. Deputy Court Adminis trator Mike Shucosk y said he forward- ed a request to LuzerneCounty Dist rict Att or- ney Stefanie Sa- lavant is, while Controller Wal- ter Griffith said he forwar ded re- qu es ts to th e FBI, U.S. WILKES-BA RRE – Tw o coun- ty officials on Friday confirmed they have made formal requests for a criminal investigation into attorney Angela Stevens’ billing practice s relati ngto herrepresen- tation of parents in Children and Youth cases. As of Jul y 1, the depart men t no longer provided that funding for a guardian who did not obtain the training, which was mandat. The state Departmen t of Pub- lic Welfare reimburses Luzerne County Children and Youth 50 percen t for guardi an service s. Guardian ad litems are attor- neys appointed by the court to repr esent children who are in the custod y of Chi ldr en and Youth Services to ensure their best interests are protected, in- dependent of their parents’ in- terest. Burke said he could not dis cus s thematte r beca useit isa personnel issue. Pr es ide nt Ju dg e Th oma s Burke on Friday would not com- ment on why Bellino, who was paid a flat salary of $50,230, was per mit tedto rem ainemploy ed if the count y coul d not be rei m- bursed. A Times Leader investigation revealed Stevens, who was paid mor e than $1 44,0 00 in 201 1, charged the county for each fee pet itio n she del ive red to the cour t, eve n tho ugh many ap- peared to have been delivered in one trip. The revel ation comes as the cour t sys tem face s mou ntin g criticism for failing to monitor payment s made to Angela Ste- vens, a Kingst on attorne y who admitted she double billed the county for representing parents in Children and Youth cases. Fran k Castano, exec utive di- rec tor of Chil dre n and Y out h Services, said he cannot seek re- imbursement for work attorney Joh n Bell ino perform ed as a guard ian ad litem after July 1, 201 1 because Bellin o did not ob- tainspecializedtraining mandat- ed by state legislation that went into effect last year. WILKES-BA RRE – Luzerne Coun ty haslost outon pote ntia l- ly thousands of dollars in state reimbursements because an at- torneywho repr esente d childre n in abuse cases did not obtai n training required by the state.
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