A Day In The Life

May 2, 2019

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court imposed a consent retroactive five-year suspension of a convicted attorney.

The Morning Call reported on the criminal case

Ex-Mayor Ed Pawlowski’s co-conspirator in steering an Allentown contract to political donors will serve one day in jail followed by house arrest for his role in the scheme.

Chief U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez sentenced former Allentown assistant solicitor Dale Wiles to a 9-to-5 shift in the custody of U.S. marshals after a federal prosecutor said his cooperation balanced against his initial efforts to stymie investigators warranted a three-month prison term.

“He knew better your honor. He’s been trained in the law and he was acting as an assistant city solicitor,” prosecutor Michelle Morgan said. “It will not be a short term for Mr. Wiles, I am sure, but that is the sentence that the government believes is appropriate for this defendant.”

In imposing his sentence, Sanchez spoke of the duty attorneys carry to act ethically in the face of adversity.

“As you well know, in the legal profession, your word matters, your character matters,” Sanchez said. “When faced with this situation you had to stand up and you failed.”

He added, “A message has to be sent that this conduct is not to be tolerated.”

Addressing the court, Wiles said that although it is not an excuse, his conduct came at a time when he was going through a nasty divorce and he feared that he would lose his job if he didn’t follow through on the requests his superiors were making. Sanchez challenged Wiles, noting that as an attorney with a license and the “extraordinary privilege” of representing others in court, he could have found work elsewhere.

Wiles replied that he feared the loss of his job would hasten his separation from his wife, adding that his employment history as an attorney “was never very steady.”

“I behaved in a cowardly manner,” Wiles said.

In addition to the day in jail, Wiles must serve three months of house arrest at the start of a three-year period of probation. Sanchez also ordered Wiles to pay a $3,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service. Wiles, whose law license was suspended after he pleaded guilty, faces automatic disbarment for his felony conviction. The state attorney discipline board will decide whether his disbarment is permanent.

Wiles, 50, was among the first to plead guilty when he admitted in September 2015 that he had carried out instructions from another city official to steer a tax collection contract to a firm backed by Pawlowski’s campaign donors. Under federal sentencing guidelines, the wire and mail fraud conspiracy charge carries a one- to 1½-year prison sentence, but prosecutors agreed to recommend a more lenient punishment in exchange for his cooperation.

In the trial where Pawlowski was convicted of dozens of corruption-related charges earlier this year, Wiles was on the prosecution’s witness list, although he was called as a witness in Pawlowski’s defense. Morgan said Wiles’ cooperation nonetheless helped their case. Pawlowski was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison and is appealing.

Wiles said Pawlowski never directly talked to him about the contract during the bidding process. But under cross-examination, Wiles said Pawlowski had contacted him several times after the FBI raided City Hall in 2015, and offered him box seats to a hockey game.

Others testified that city Finance Director Garret Strathearn pressured Wiles and another city worker to change their evaluations of bids for the tax collection contract to favor Northeast Revenue Service. Strathearn testified that Pawlowski told him he favored Northeast Revenue, whose owners, others said, Pawlowski saw as key allies in his campaign for governor.

“He said these guys are important to me. I need them. I need this, ” Strathearn testified.

Wiles initially lied to FBI special agents and failed to turn over documents in response to a subpoena to the city. He later owned up to investigators, locating the doctored evaluations they sought and testifying truthfully before the grand jury, Morgan said.

Wiles testified that he fabricated a score sheet that gave Northeast Revenue a higher score than its competitors and hid that from the FBI. The contract was ultimately awarded to Northeast Revenue, and the city’s longtime tax collector, Portnoff Associates, lost the work.

Morgan credited Wiles with influencing Strathearn, who, she said, initially lied to the grand jury.

“It appears fairly clear from the timeline that Mr. Wiles’ ultimate decision to be truthful directly impacted Mr. Strathearn’s decision to be truthful with the government,” she said.

Wiles’ sentencing came a day after Strathearn avoided prison at his sentencing, also on a mail and wire fraud conspiracy charge. Sanchez ordered Strathearn to serve six months on electronic monitoring as part of a five-year sentence of probation.

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Bar Discipline & Process