Former Greene DA, county detective held for court
A former Greene County district attorney and his former chief detective, who allegedly conspired to retaliate against a number of county officials, were held for court after more than four hours of testimony at a preliminary hearing on Friday.
David Russo, 47, who served as Greene County’s district attorney from 2019 until being voted out in 2023, faces a felony count of conflict of interest and a misdemeanor charge of misapplying entrusted government property. He also shares misdemeanor charges with former detective Zachary Sams, 40, including retaliation for past official action, official oppression and conspiracy.
Both were charged by the state attorney general’s office in October after a grand jury indictment.
Over the last year-and-half of their tenure, Russo and Sams were involved in a number of high-profile disputes with county officials.
Russo’s attorney, Stephen Stallings, argued the state had not demonstrated any intent on the part of Russo and Sams to pursue vendettas.
“There’s no recorded conversations, there’s no emails between the two of them … there’s no evidence of these crimes,” he said.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Heather Serrano, lead prosecutor in the case, said the timing of the conflicts, and the speed with which charges against his opponents had been dropped when referred to the state, pointed to actions taken because of an “underlying feud” and to bolster Russo’s reelection prospects.
“What we have here is a bunch of underlying pieces that come together to put together the elements of the case,” she said.
Aprill Noelle-Campbell, a special agent with the state attorney general’s office, had originally been called in to investigate the case referred by Russo against county solicitor Eugene Grimm and former county commissioner Mike Belding, both of whom also testified Friday.
He had accused them of several misdemeanor charges connected to the “casting of the lots” in March 2023 to determine the order in which candidates’ names would appear on the primary ballot.
Russo’s name had been on top of his race after the first attempt, which was later scrubbed after it was determined the county’s election director had listed the incorrect date on the required legal posting.
Russo and several other candidates protested the second drawing by sitting it out. The candidates who did not participate were placed on the bottom of the ballot. Several of the candidates subsequently filed complaints.
Roy Kross, who had served as assistant district attorney under Russo, said he had recommended a civil, but not criminal, suit in the case. He also said it should be turned over to the state attorney general’s office, since Russo was a candidate.
“He indicated that a civil suit would take too long, because the election would be over,” he said.
Russo eventually referred the matter to the state attorney general’s office, which withdrew the charges and closed the case.
After reading the affidavits and conducting several interviews, Noelle-Campbell said there did not appear to be probable cause for the charges. Peculiarities in Sams’ complaints also piqued her interest, she testified.
A standard criminal complaint would have a “to wit”: the section that describes the specific actions behind the charge.
“In the criminal complaints, it doesn’t have that,” she said. “All it is is copy-pasting of the criminal offense.”
Serrano argued the choice of Grimm and Belding as targets, and not the elections officer in charge of the lot-drawing and posting, was evidence of a punitive prosecution.
“I think it’s very telling … the people that were charged were the people that DA Russo and Det. Sams had very, very public rivalries with,” she said.
In testimony Friday, Grimm and Belding described a number of conflicts dating back to 2021, when the commissioners hired a victim witness coordinator reporting to them; the post had traditionally been appointed by the district attorney, though Russo had not notified the board when the position became vacant, Grimm said.
In response, Grimm said, Russo instructed other agencies not to cooperate with the coordinator, and stripped her office of computer, phone and other amenities.
Eventually she resigned, Grimm testified, telling the county, “I’m not going to take money from the county if I can’t do my job.”
Grimm said he had also clashed with Russo in April 2022 after he recommended a local police department file charges against local attorney Patrick Fitch, who had run against Russo in 2019. He testified he asked Russo to recuse himself from any involvement, sending a copy of his letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
In October 2022, Russo and Sams later confiscated “Stop the Bleed” kits from local paramedics after Russo alleged the 911 director was improperly withholding kits, Grimm testified.
The county filed a civil action to have the kits returned, leading to their return after about a month.
“Was there ever an instance where emergency personnel could not access a Stop the Bleed kit?” Stallings asked Belding.
“No, but the potential was there,” he testified.
Based on the timing, Serrano said, the seizures were likely intended to provide material for a county SWAT team Russo was working to assemble. Russo billed the county for AR-15s and 4,000 rounds of ammunition.
Russo’s efforts had not been supported by the county commissioner, Belding said.
“Greene County doesn’t have anywhere near the resources for a SWAT team,” he said.
Russo had also been informed the SWAT team could not be insured, Belding said.
Russo also investigated the email records of several employees, including Belding, after an audit report into irregularities in the district attorney’s asset forfeiture fund had been released.
Grimm testified the records had been released properly through a Right to Know request made by the county’s Republican Party chairman. The county board filed an action in the county Court of Common Pleas the next month asking the state to intervene in the case, which they called “politically motivated.”
Testifying about the charges against them in the election case, Grimm and Belding said the charges against them had been a devastating blow for them.
“I felt my civil rights had been violated,” Grimm said. “I could not work for the county. I was devastated. I told the commissioners, over their objections, that I had to resign.”
Grimm then “stayed at home and hid” for the next 30 to 40 days, until he received word that the state had dropped the case against him, he said.
Belding said even with the charges later withdrawn, the original accusations, amplified by a press conference held by Russo, had harmed his reputation.
“I spent 30 years in the Marine Corps building a reputation for integrity and honesty, and in one evening it’s taken away by a regional newscast,” he said.
Russo and Sams are both scheduled to be arraigned April 28 before Judge Louis Dayich in the Greene County Court of Common Pleas.