May 16, 2020 4 min read

President Judge Farley Toothman remains on the bench in Greene County after the state Judicial Conduct Board alleged he retaliated against a defendant and a court custodian.

“He is still sitting as a judge in Greene County,” Court Administrator Sheila Rode said Friday, the day after the state Court of Judicial Discipline filed a 21-count complaint against Toothman.

Richard W. Long of Mechanicsburg, Dauphin County, chief counsel for the state Judicial Conduct Board, said Friday that is typical.

The board seeks a suspension only if a judge “is charged with a felony or the board feels it is necessary in the interest of justice to seek a suspension.”

Otherwise, Long said, “The judge remains able to perform duties before the case is heard.”

An attorney accepted service of the 18-page complaint on Toothman’s behalf, but until the attorney enters his appearance, the name of the judge’s attorney is not public record, according to Long.

Toothman and his attorney have 30 days to file a response to the matter, and then a period known as “discovery” – opportunities to examine the evidence – begins.

“We’re looking at several months before a hearing/trial,” Long said, noting that Court of Judicial Discipline proceedings, which are open to the public, usually take place in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg or Philadelphia.

“The venue is determined by the Court” of Judicial Discipline, Long said.

The first allegation against Toothman stemmed from an incident Sept. 6, 2017, at a Sunoco convenience store in Waynesburg, when a customer, Christy McCarty, questioned a law clerk, Alexsandra Chamberlain, about activity in the store after she had left.

Chamberlain told Toothman about that exchange and store clerks who said they would ask the store owner to review surveillance footage.

Toothman, his son, George, and Chamberlain then went to the store and questioned the clerks, who asked the trio to leave because they felt harassed.

No charges were filed as a result of the investigation, but Toothman had McCarty, who was doing community service in a magisterial case, report to his courtroom the next morning.

At that proceeding, McCarty was not represented by an attorney, nor was a commonwealth attorney present, according to the complaint.

Toothman is accused of reciting McCarty’s criminal history before he found her to be in civil contempt for being in arrears for costs, fines and fees. He sent her to the Greene County Jail until Oct. 2 of that year, when she again appeared before him. He released her after asking if she was “going to be a good girl.” She had made no payments in the magisterial case while she was in jail, according to the allegations.

Chamberlain, who was hired Dec. 18, 2015, was employed as a law clerk for Greene County through Aug. 23, 2018.

In a second instance of alleged retaliation, Waynette Pellegrini refused to sign a confidentiality statement, and she filed a grievance that union work was being done in Toothman’s chambers in violation of a union contract.

On Jan. 28, 2018, Toothman posted a bright orange copy of Pellegrini’s grievance on a public bulletin board in the courthouse that contained both her name and personal phone number, the document alleges.

Toothman met with two Greene County commissioners and other officials to discuss his posting of the grievance and was told it might constitute retaliation.

According to the complaint, “Toothman exclaimed, ‘You think I’m going to retaliate? You’re damned right I’m going to retaliate.'”

The Judicial Conduct Board’s document also accused Toothman of closing a protection-from-abuse hearing to the public in April 2018 when the matter should have been heard in open court.

Toothman, 64, was appointed by Gov. Ed Rendell to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge H. Terry Grimes in 2009.

Grimes remains a senior judge in Greene County. Louis Dayich is as associate judge.

Toothman’s father, the late Glenn Toothman, was a Greene County judge for 20 years.

Farley Toothman practiced law in Greene County with his father and brother and served two terms as a Greene County commissioner. He also served as a solicitor for Greene County, Greensboro and Waynesburg.

After his appointment to the court, he won a 10-year term in the 2011 municipal election.

“I do my best every day,” Toothman told a reporter Thursday night. “I respect the system and will comply with the process.”