State justice denies benefit from alleged stolen union funds

HARRISBURG, >> A Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice who is the younger brother of an indicted Philadelphia labor leader denied Thursday that he knowingly benefited from any money allegedly embezzled from the union.

The Philadelphia Inquirer cited five unidentified people familiar with the investigation as confirming Justice Kevin Dougherty is “family member No. 4” in court documents made public last week.

The 159-page federal indictment said union funds were used to pay to remove snow from the relative’s home in 2016, and for construction, repairs and painting there in 2011.

Dougherty’s lawyer told the newspaper he never knowingly accepted improper benefits.

The judge, a Democrat elected in 2015, is not accused of wrongdoing in the indictment. His lawyer, Courtney Saleski, said he paid for all the work at his home and had no reason to know who shoveled his snow on the date in question.

Pennsylvania’s Republican Party issued a statement Thursday asking federal and state prosecutors and the court’s ethics boards to review the “serious matter.”

Dougherty’s brother, John Dougherty, is accused of misspending $600,000 in union funds for home repairs, sports tickets, trips and luxuries, and using union-funded benefits to illegally elicit official action from a city councilman. He pleaded not guilty Friday.