Former Municipal Court judge caught in sting disbarred
Former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr., who admitted illegally taking $1,000 in cash and helping "a friend" with a felony gun case, has been stripped of his law license, the state Supreme Court said Wednesday.
Former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr., who admitted illegally taking $1,000 in cash and helping "a friend" with a felony gun case, has been stripped of his law license, the state Supreme Court said Wednesday.
Waters was snared in an elaborate 2012 FBI sting operation and is expected to be sentenced to prison in January.
According to Waters' plea documents, investigators used cooperating witness to give the judge $1,000 as a campaign donation. State law bans cash donations.
The same witness told Waters that David P. Khoury needed some help with a gun case.
Waters promptly called Municipal Court Judge Dawn A. Segal, saying Khoury was "a friend" and asking her to "help him." Segal then reduced the charge Khoury faced to a misdemeanor.
Unbeknownst to Waters and Segal, Khoury was an FBI plant, and the gun arrest had been staged.
Waters also illegally influenced a civil case overseen by Municipal Court Judge Joseph O'Neill.
The Supreme Court pulled both Segal and O'Neill off the bench but allowed them to receive full pay during an ongoing judicial investigation.