Politics & Government
Update: Commissioner Matthews Arrested, Denies Any Wrongdoing
Matthews is being charged with perjury and false swearing and faces up to nine years in jail. He denies any wrongdoing.
As reported earlier, Montgomery County Commissioners' Chairman James Matthews was arrested at around 8 a.m. this morning in Springfield.
According to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman, Matthews faces perjury and false swearing charges in connection with his Oct. 5 testimony to a grand jury conducting an 18-month long investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the commissioners' office. He faces up to seven years in jail for perjury and up to two years in jail for false swearing charges.
The grand jury investigation covered alleged misappropriation of campaign funds for personal expenses, violations of the Sunshine Laws by both Matthews and fellow commissioner Joe Hoeffel, awarding of no-bid contracts to campaign contributors and other conflicts of interest. While the grand jury could find no charges to bring stemming from the alleged misdeeds, they did find that Matthews had lied under oath about his business relationship with a company called Certified Abstract and his personal relationship with the owner of the company.
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"Members of the grand jury were deeply disturbed by the manner in which our county government was operating," said Ferman. "They believed that many of these actions should have been criminal. Ultimately the grand jurors found that the law as it exists right now was not sufficient for them to recommend criminal charges. They made very strong recommendations about changes to the government process and to legislative changes."
Matthews was arraigned in district court just before noon today, and according to , denies any wrongdoing.
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“Commissioner Matthews is really angry about [the charges] and certainly embarrassed to be in this situation." Matthews lawyer, Tom Egan, told The Herald. "With regard to the allegations, he adamantly denies any wrongdoing. Realistically, his terms ends at the early part of January. He’s going to serve out his term and he’ll be at the meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the budget.”
Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.
Read our original live coverage of this story below. You can find The Times Herald's coverage of the story on their website.
Update: Matthews is currently being arraigned by Montgomery County Magisterial District Justice Hunsicker.
Update: Ferman says Matthews faces up to seven years in jail for perjury and up to two years in jail for false swearing to the grand jury.
Update: Ferman: "We're not giving [Matthews] a free pass on lying."
Matthews is scheduled to be arraigned at 11:45 a.m.
Update: According to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman, Matthews told the grand jury that he did not have a relationship with Certified Abstract, a company the county solicitor instructed employees to use for farmland preservation sales. Matthews's mortgage company allegedly did business with Certified Abstract.
Update: Montgomery County Commissioner James Matthews has been arrested on charges of perjury and false swearing, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman.
The charges were detailed in a presentment issued by an investigative grand jury on Nov. 16. It was not immediately clear when or where Matthews was arrested, or why officials waited almost three weeks to effect the arrest.
The district attorney's press conference continues. We'll update this story as more information becomes available.
Initial story below.
Montgomery County Commissioner James Matthews has been arrested on a perjury charge, according to a report in the Norristown Times-Herald.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman has called a press conference scheduled for 10:30am. The district attorney's office said in a statement that Ferman will be announcing the results of an 18-month grand jury investigation into the County Commissioners.
Matthews was scheduled to lead a public hearing tomorrow morning on the county's proposed 2012 budget, which slashes the county parks department, library funding, and other popular county services. That hearing, which is expected to be heavily attended, is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow in Courtroom A of the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.
Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.
