A former Washington County Common Pleas judge convicted of stealing cocaine from evidence bags in his chambers was released from jail Tuesday.
Paul Pozonsky, 59, was sentenced on July 13 by visiting Bedford County Judge Daniel L. Howsare to one to 23½ months in jail after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of theft, obstruction and misapplication of entrusted property.
A grand jury was convened, and a state Attorney General’s office investigation launched after police said the former judge took several unusual steps, including ordering officers to bring drug evidence into the courtroom for routine pretrial hearings. Police said Pozonsky then insisted on retaining the evidence in his private chambers and once recessed a hearing and ordered a police officer to retrieve the cocaine evidence before he would continue the proceeding.
A May 2012 search revealed that some of the evidence bags locked in Pozonsky’s chambers had been unsealed; investigators said 291.2 grams of cocaine was either missing, tampered with or replaced with baking soda.
Three weeks after the search, Pozonsky was stripped of his criminal caseload, and he abruptly retired a month later. He was halfway through his second 10-year term on the bench.
On the same day as his sentencing, Pozonsky was hired by a friend to work as a general laborer for a Washington, Pa.-based damage restoration company and was granted work release by Judge Howsare.
Pozonsky acknowledged during his sentencing that he’d battled a drug problem, calling himself “a broken man” and saying his addiction cost him his career, his reputation and his marriage. He is likely to lose his law license and also has forfeited lifelong benefits he would have been entitled to, such as medical coverage and his annual $98,000 pension. He told Judge Howsare that he had been clean for nearly four years.
Judge Howsare on Aug. 4 ordered Pozonsky to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation. Three days later, he asked the county’s Adult Probation Office to evaluate Pozonsky’s living quarters with his elderly parents in Cecil.
“... At its earliest convenience the WCAPO shall conduct the customary home plan evaluation for parolees to insure that proper re-entry is appropriate. Upon completion of the minimum sentence of 30 days incarceration, [the defendant] shall be paroled under the supervision of WCAPO,” wrote Judge Howsare, who also sentenced Pozonsky to two years of probation.
Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com
First Published: August 11, 2015, 9:00 p.m.