Constable Probe about to boil over

- I was down by the river cooking up a batch of boilo when the call came through.

It was from one of my sources saying that something was about to break on the constable probe.

The constable probe is a super secret investigation into how Berks County constables are making scads more money than constables in other counties.

They all got the same pay raise in 2007.

Yet three Berks constables made $250,000 in 2007. No other constables even came close.

I've been writing about the constables since 2004 when I got one of those phone calls reporting that a constable was going around the district courts telling everyone he made more than $120,000 that year.

I checked with county Controller Sandy Graffius and she said she would check but assured me that it was unlikely.

She called back flabbergasted and told me to get up to her office because apparently my tipster had good information.

Graffius showed me the volumes of paperwork constables are required to submit to get paid for their work.

Constables typically transport prisoners from the county jail to district courts, provide security in the district court offices, serve summonses and other court papers and arrest scofflaws for unpaid parking and other violations. They also conduct evictions and serve papers in landlord-tenant disputes.

A fee is assigned and paid for each one of the services performed.

So, I asked, how does a constable make $250,000 per year?

Delaware County Constable Jack Esher, president of the Pennsylvania State Constables Association, said a constable working for a busy court can make a lot of money. But he admitted $250,000 was unheard of.

"They're not making it arresting people," Esher added.

Esher explained that when a constable arrests someone on a warrant, they have to bring them to district court and have them arraigned, fingerprinted and then taken before a judge to determine if they will be released on bail or imprisoned pending further court action.

"That all takes time," Esher said. "If you're arresting people you can't be doing something else at the same time."

For one thing, to make $250,000 you have to submit a ton of paperwork.

A 2006 audit by Graffius' staff turned up no evidence of wrongdoing and left me feeling like a blind dog in a meat locker.

If you know where to look, sources say, you can determine whether constables are double-billing for services.

One surefire way to catch cheating, I'm told, is to compare the sign-in sheets at Berks County Prison with the constable cost sheets.

If two constables submit cost sheets to Graffius claiming they both transported prisoners from court to the prison but only one of those constables signed in at the prison, it's a red flag.

I've been knocked as having it in for the constables.

The truth is that some of them are their own worst enemy. They've been telling people stuff they probably wouldn't tell their lawyers.

Some constables, sick of the funny business, have been telling the probers where to probe next.

But it's all very hush-hush right now.

Just like the location of my next batch of boilo.