Ethics Complaint Says Judge Harassed Women
Pennsylvania’s Judicial Conduct Board has filed charges against a district judge, largely over allegations he harassed nine women, five of them lawyers.
The Erie Times-News also says the complaint alleges Gerard L. Alonge misrepresented himself as an adjunct faculty member of Mercyhurst College North East’s criminal justice program when in fact he was only on a list of people available to teach. The complaint says Alonge had in fact never taught at the college.
The complaint also says Alonge called the nine women repeatedly—one woman said he would call her 10 to 15 times per night—and sometimes showed up unannounced. One lawyer said he stopped her in her driveway to ask if she would participate in moot court, and then commented on her hair.
The Times-News says that Erie County President Judge Elizabeth Kelly has sent Alonge two letters since January 2008 instructing him to make no further contact with specific women.
In April 2008 Times-News article mentioning the first letter from Kelly, Alonge said that he had not knowingly put himself in a situation where “by thought or action anything inappropriate could have been perceived.”
Alonge’s lawyer, Philip Friedman of Erie, declined to comment to the Associated Press about the case.
