High-Ranking Sheriff’s Office Deputy Resigns

One of the top officials at the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office resigned after only seven months on the job.

Lt. Deputy George McClay, the former chief of the Morrisville Borough Police Department and a veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, resigned after scrutiny from an after-hours event in Doylestown Borough. The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported on the resignation.

According to sources within the sheriff’s office and the local law enforcement community, McClay went to a bar and restaurant down the street from the Justice Center after a July 9 promotion ceremony.

Off-duty deputies, McClay, Sheriff Danny Ceisler, and others gathered to celebrate the promotions, the sources said.

McClay, according to the sources, got in his county-owned sheriff’s office vehicle after being seen having sips of a beer and was spotted leaving.

Several sources strongly stated that McClay was not intoxicated. He has not been accused of driving while under the influence or causing any problems after leaving.

“I don’t know if he had a whole beer,” one source said. “It was the optics of him leaving in the car.”

County employees are not permitted to operate a government-owned vehicle after having any drinks, an official said, adding that the policy extends to the sheriff’s office.

Ceisler, a Democrat who took office in January, confirmed McClay had stepped down from his job in the office after the July 9 event. He declined to provide further details, citing it as being a personnel matter.

McClay told The Philadelphia Inquirer he retired and denied being asked to step down.

“I’m retired,” he said told the newspaper. “I’m 63, and it was time to go.”

Among McClay’s duties in the sheriff’s office were enforcing discipline on deputies who violated policy.

McClay was appointed to the sheriff’s office at a yearly salary of $90,000 in January, according to county personnel records obtained by this news organization.

Ceisler said he was not aware of any other problems at the celebration for the newly-promoted deputies.

Ceisler toasted the new deputies, had a single beer, and paid the tab out of pocket for those who attended before leaving in a non-county vehicle, the sheriff said.

McClay was fired as chief of Morrisville Borough while on vacation in Mexico in 2023 after a spat with council members. He appealed the firing and received a $200,000 termination settlement a year later, according to the Yardley Patch.com site.

The sheriff’s office is led by Ceisler, who is elected, and Chief Deputy Joseph Fuentes, who was appointed by the sheriff.