LevittownNow.com’s investigative reporting has been supported in part by funding from In The Know Club members.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A years-long investigation that has put a focus on Falls Township has been pushing forward, according to multiple sources.
Advertisements
LevittownNow.com has been able to confirm through sources that a federal grand jury is being empaneled in Philadelphia to investigate matters with ties to local government.
Assistant United States Attorney Mark B. Dubnoff, of U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, has been assigned to the case. Dubnoff has prosecuted a number of high-profile cases in the region, including a recent one against a Philadelphia City Council member.
“We can neither confirm or deny the existence of an investigation and that would encompass any grand jury work,” said regional U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson Jennifer Crandall. Her statement is consistent with the policy of federal prosecutors.
Advertisements
The grand jury comes after the FBI, Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, Pennsylvania State Police, and Bucks County Detectives have been talking to area government officials and business people for years.
No charges have been filed, no indictments handed down, and no accusations of wrongdoing have been made by authorities at this point.
Advertisements
Falls Township officials had no comment on recent developments.
On Friday afternoon, Falls Township received a new subpoena from investigators seeking records, sources said. The exact details on the document were not known.
Over the past two weeks, law enforcement sources have said additional subpoenas are expected to be delivered as part of the investigation.
Advertisements
After LevittownNow.com confirmed subpoenas were coming and a day after Falls Township police Chief Nelson Whitney was placed on paid leave from his job after members of his officers’ union voted they had no confidence in him, the police leader said in a statement from his lawyer to reporters that he received a federal grand jury subpoena before he was put on leave.
In recent weeks, investigators have been continuing to talk to those who they believe have information that is helpful to their probe, according sources.
Advertisements
A first subpoena, which sought six years of records, was served on Falls Township by law enforcement in late summer 2020. Exactly what type of records were wanted has not been confirmed.
The township has declined to comment on the 2020 subpoena and what it sought.
Advertisements
A previously unreported subpoena for records related to Falls Township was served around the same time in 2020 at the office of New Jersey-based electrical union International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 269, which does work in parts of Lower Bucks County.
IBEW Local 269 Business Manager Stephen Aldrich confirmed the 2020 subpoena on Thursday and that it sought records related to communications involving Falls Township. However, he said the subpoena’s request had “no merit,” and the union turned over all the documents – unredacted, he noted – authorities asked for.
Advertisements
Aside from doing work in the township, the union and municipality have overlap because Falls Township Supervisors Jeff Dence and Jeff Boraski are members. However, there is no information on what connection between the township and the union authorities have been examining.
In July 2020, LevittownNow.com broke the news FBI special agents, state, and county authorities interviewed several people close to Falls Township and the Pennsbury School District. Several people said investigators asked them about matters related to local government and politics, unions, contractors, political donations, and problems in the Pennsbury School District. The investigation also has apparent ties to Montgomery County.
The investigation that involved the school district appeared to have cooled after the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office was set to hold a state grand jury in Harrisburg in 2020.
Advertisements
It was unclear the exact focus of the state grand jury inquiry and the full scope of how it related to the school district. No charges or state grand jury reports related to the district have become public since the panel was set to meet.
In February 2021, the school district referred to the ongoing probe as a “non-existent ‘law enforcement investigations.’”
Advertisements
LevittownNow.com has reviewed documents confirming the existence of the probe looking at Falls Township and the school district. This news organization has also talked to more than three dozen people in Bucks and Montgomery counties as part of the confirmation process for the reporting and undertaken pre-publication reviews for accuracy conducted by two law firms over the past two years.
Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies
