Judge denies contempt of court motion against Cambria County DA

EBENSBURG, Pa. (WJAC) — A Cambria County judge denied a motion filed by a local activist to hold Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan in contempt of court in his ongoing efforts to find out how her office spends money collected through drug forfeitures.

The ruling came less than an hour after John DeBartola brought Callihan on the stand to answer why she signed off on two documents of 'Attestation of Non-Existent Record' regarding records requesting "The names of all employees, third party employees, and independent contractors of the [Office] with their salaries, wages, job titles and job descriptions from 2013 to present" as well as "All the records for a full accounting of all payroll wages and overtime wages paid from the drug forfeiture account to any county employees and police officers of Cambria County from 2000 to present." DeBartola believes she knows more than those documents let on, given that the office fought the case in court for years when he first requested more documents pertaining to the account.

A December 2017 6 News investigation found that more than $10,000 was used for such things as outside counsel to work for the district attorney’s office on right-to-know requests, a staff dinner, and laptop cases for staff. While not illegal, it raised questions about what else the money was being used for.

"I want to know which lie the DA is telling happens to be true, DeBartola said. "I think they're hiding the records and I'm afraid they've either shredded them or they're just simply not being truthful about it."

Judge Norman Krumenacker ruled after the hearing that Callihan complied with his order from November to release more documents in the case. The DA said DeBartola was told where documents he sought were actually located, and that he obtained some of the materials through other avenues.

DeBartola, acting as his own attorney, called office staff and Callihan to testify about who worked in the office, who reviewed his requests, and who all looked for the files before her office confirmed the records do not exist. DeBartola also tried to ask about certain political and judicial connections she has, but the judge accepted objections from the defense that they were not relevant to the matter.

"We gave stacks of information to Mr. DeBartola and we feel we've fully complied with every obligation under the law," said Bill Barbin, Cambria County Solicitor. "He has his stuff, he just desires to get back in front of the camera again."

DeBartola said he was disappointed in the ruling, but he had his day in court and trusted the system worked.

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