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Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate down to 4.9 percent in August

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Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham to perform at Mohegan Sun Arena in WB Township.

<p>Workers at a coroner&#8217;s office in Pennsylvania&#8217;s Pocono Mountains respond when someone dies under unusual circumstances, but lately they&#8217;ve also had to respond to lurid allegations in a sex scandal that&#8217;s generated two lawsuits and a police investigation.</p><p>Allegations about the Monroe County coroner&#8217;s office were laid out in recent court filings: Sex between a deputy coroner and a police officer at a death scene; stealing prescription drugs and other items from the deceased; an extramarital affair in the woods, carried out during working hours; and showing co-workers cellphone photos of a lover&#8217;s male genitalia.</p><p>County prosecutors took the unusual step this week of announcing publicly that their investigation into &#8220;allegations of misconduct&#8221; began before a fired deputy coroner sued in federal court in late August and another deputy, disciplined but still on the job, filed a similar county lawsuit on Sept. 8.</p><p>&#8220;Right now, it&#8217;s just an investigation into some allegations, that&#8217;s all,&#8221; Chief County Detective Eric Kerchner said this week. He said the goal is &#8220;to get an overall view of what&#8217;s been happening in the past.&#8221;</p><p>Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen, a Republican who has held the job for 25 years, insists the descriptions of an office spinning out of control are &#8220;all false, false allegations&#8221; timed to hurt his chances at re-election in November.</p><p>&#8220;Anything to make sure I don&#8217;t win the election,&#8221; Allen said Tuesday, before ending a brief phone interview.</p><p>The federal case filed Aug. 24 by former deputy coroner Lauren Fizz against the county, Allen, and his wife and top aide Kathleen &#8220;Traci&#8221; Allen said Traci Allen has essentially taken over the office, including decisions about hiring and firing. Traci Allen did not respond to a message seeking comment.</p><p>The complaint alleges Traci Allen created a sexually hostile work environment by telling co-workers about her marital problems and her own infidelity, showing them obscene photos of one of her lovers, bragging about a &#8220;friends with benefits&#8221; relationship with someone she met on social media and talking &#8220;about leaving work early for a liaison in the woods.&#8221;</p><p>Fizz&#8217;s lawsuit said Traci Allen and an unnamed co-worker, described as &#8220;her deputy coroner paramour,&#8221; concocted a false story that Fizz &#8220;had had a sexual encounter with a police officer at a death scene in April 2016.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Lauren categorically denies that this happened,&#8221; her lawyer, David Deratzian, said Wednesday. As for the officer who is supposed to have been her partner, Deratzian said, &#8220;It is highly unlikely he would have been at the scene to allow this to happen.&#8221;</p><p>Kerchner, the county detective, said that so far he has found no evidence that the death-scene sex occurred.</p><p>Fizz gave the county a written complaint about Traci Allen on June 17, a little more than a month before Bob Allen fired her.</p><p>Her federal lawsuit says that the defendants or others made stigmatizing and false statements about her and that she was dismissed on trumped-up grounds. She&#8217;s seeking back pay, damages and reimbursement for her costs.</p><p>The other lawsuit, by chief deputy coroner Michael Sak, said he turned down sexual overtures that Traci Allen made toward him in early 2016 and again this July.</p><p>He claims she became angry, which drew her husband&#8217;s attention, leading Sak to tell him about Traci Allen&#8217;s alleged misconduct. He says Traci Allen then kicked over a chair and tried to attack him.</p><p>Both Allens then accused Sak of exposing himself to bodily fluids by not following safety procedures. He was given a formal warning.</p><p>Sak wants his discipline overturned and to be protected under the state&#8217;s whistleblower protection law.</p><p>The Democratic candidate in the November election, funeral director Thomas Yanac, wants to improve the office&#8217;s working environment.</p><p>&#8220;My basic message is to stop the deputy coroner turnover in the office, which is costing taxpayers money,&#8221; Yanac said. &#8220;And stop the nepotism and stop the dysfunction in the office.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In this 2013 file photo, Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen discusses charges against a man who eventually pleaded guilty to killing multiple people at a municipal meeting in the Poconos. Lurid claims about the Monroe County coroner's office under Allen's leadership have ignited a sex scandal, prompting a police investigation of allegations that include sex at a death scene. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_118530443-8afca761453a4806905d39361157c1bd.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this 2013 file photo, Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen discusses charges against a man who eventually pleaded guilty to killing multiple people at a municipal meeting in the Poconos. Lurid claims about the Monroe County coroner's office under Allen's leadership have ignited a sex scandal, prompting a police investigation of allegations that include sex at a death scene. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Scolforo</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Lawsuits: Sex scandal in Monroe County coroner’s office