Mulgrew removed from Traffic Court bench after indictment
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Mulgrew removed from Traffic Court bench after indictment
Chris Brennan
Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Bob Mulgrew, charged with his wife and the chief of staff to state Rep. Bill Keller in a federal indictment Thursday, has been removed from the bench for now.
"The Supreme Court today issued an emergency order of suspension to [Common Pleas Court] Judge [Gary] Glazer in his capacity as the Administrative Judge of Traffic Court, directing Judge Glazer to suspend Judge Robert Mulgrew from all official duties and assignments in Philadelphia Traffic Court until further notice," emailed Frank Keel, spokesman for the First Judicial District.
Mulgrew's attorney on Thursday said he planned to continue working as a judge after being charged with misusing thousands of dollars in state grants to a community group he helped operate.
The Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board on Friday filed a petition for interim suspension without pay for Mulgrew, pending a trial on the federal criminal charges. The board has requested a hearing before the Court of Judicial Discipline.
Mulgrew faces 30 felony counts of mail fraud, one felony count of wire fraud, one felony count of tax evasion, five felony counts of filing false tax returns and one felony count of obstructing justice.
"The pending felony criminal charges against Judge Mulgrew undermine both public confidence in the judiciary and it's reputation," the chief counsel for the Judicial Conduct Board wrote in a petition submitted to the Court of Judicial Discipline.
Comment removed.
Surprised yet pleased to see suspended WITHOUT pay....— cubalaw
"...undermine both public confidence in the judiciary and it's reputation..."
Please name one person living on this planet who has confidence in the branch of The Judiciary known as The Philadelphia Traffic Court.
As for their reputation - well, it just ain't all that good and rightly so.- The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".
I don't trust our government so it could be that this guy angered some higher-up and is getting blamed for something he didn't do.
Innocent until proven guilty.— Sluggo - Just wait a minute; Johnny Doc (local 98) says he's OK. We the stupid voting public must be smoking the some funny stuff.— paulfromtheoblongtable
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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