2 Delco district courts admonished

Magisterial district courts in Media and Lansdowne were admonished by Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor for inadequate arrest warrant procedures identified in audits released Monday.

District Courts 32-2-46 and 322-47 were the only two in Delaware County to receive what are called citations but are really reprimands as part of the audit examining collection and remittance of money collected on behalf of the commonwealth between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2020.

The compliance audits were for district courts and county government offices in Beaver, Berks, Chester, Clarion, Clinton, Columbia, Dauphin, Delaware, Elk, Erie, Indiana, Lycoming, Mercer, Montour, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Sullivan and Tioga counties.

The 32-2-46 district in Media was overseen by District Judge Nicholas Lippincott from Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2017, and by District Judge Andrew Goldberg for the remainder of the audit period.

There was only one issue with finances there regarding a check issued to the Department of Revenue in September 2020 that had been lost, voided and reissued in February 2021, according to the audit.

Otherwise, the auditing team found 30 instances out of 50 tested where warrants were not recalled or returned, or were not recalled in a timely manner. Warrant return procedures recommend that warrants should be returned after 120 days if the defendant is unable to be located, or recalled for reissuance if the server has not exhausted all avenues of finding the defendant.

Testing found 14 warrants were not returned or recalled and 16 were not recalled in a timely manner, the audit says. The time of issuance to the time of return on these warrants ranged from 187 to 1,259 days.

The audit indicates the court responded that the deficiency had also been caught by the Delaware County Court Administrative Office for district judges prior to the audit, and the court and court administrator have been asked to draft correspondence to all constables with 180 days of issuance of all summary warrants. Warrants that cannot be served will be returned within 180 days and recorded as unserved. The court will also review warrant lists on a weekly basis to identify those that need action and the administrative office will assist in monitoring efforts.

The 32-2-47 court in Lansdowne, overseen by District Judge W. Keith Williams II throughout the audit period, had no financial issues but likewise failed to consistently follow warrant procedures.

Of 51 warrants tested, two were not issued timely and 10 were not issued at all, the audit found. Of 38 warrants required to be returned or recalled, 18 were not returned or recalled and another 10 were not returned timely. The time of issuance to time of return ranged from 187 to 1,199 days.

The audit notes similar issues were identified in a prior audit conducted for the period of Jan. 1, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2016.

The court’s response here stated that the deficiencies had also already been identified and staff was working hard to get warrants up to date prior to the audit.

The judge said staff would routinely monitor reports going forward to ensure timely issuance and alleviate further issues, and that the court administrator and regional assistant administrators would join in that monitoring effort.

Both court responses noted that the audit period included 10 months at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic when courts were essentially shut down and backlogs of court functions piled up. The audit team indicated that it had “excluded any exceptions identified” for the period of March to December 2020 and that those were not included in the findings.