Trooper on duty at governor's mansion aided budget secretary's wife after arrest

HARRISBURG - The wife of a cabinet secretary got a lift home from an on-duty state trooper assigned to the governor's mansion after she was arrested and charged with drunken driving this month.

Sgt. Anthony Manetta, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Police, confirmed Friday that a trooper assigned to the governor's security detail left his post in an unmarked state car to pick up Georgina D. Zogby, wife of Budget Secretary Charles Zogby. The trooper took her from the Cumberland County police processing center early July 10 to her home about six miles away.

Earlier, sometime after midnight, she had been taken to the booking center after police said she led officers on a chase. Troopers stopped her by using a rolling roadblock and barriers designed to puncture tires, according to a police affidavit.

The actions of the trooper who drove her home sparked criticism from government watchdogs and political rivals of Gov. Corbett.

Manetta disputed a report Thursday by Harrisburg's WGAL-TV that said Georgina Zogby, 47, had called Corbett's Harrisburg residence after her arrest.

Instead, Manetta said, Georgina Zogby called the governor's office, where her husband works. Like other after-hours calls, her call was automatically transferred to Corbett's residence, where a trooper answered, Manetta said.

"It was the trooper who made this decision individually and went ahead and picked her up," took her home, and then returned to his post, he said.

Corbett was in Pittsburgh that night and at least one other trooper remained on duty at the residence, Manetta said.

Manetta would not identify the trooper or say whether disciplinary action would be taken. He said he did not know whether Georgina Zogby asked to be picked up or whether the trooper offered.

The Zogbys could not be reached at their home near Harrisburg. A staffer in Charles Zogby's office referred calls to Corbett's office, which had no response Friday. Georgina Zogby's lawyer, William Fulton, could not be reached.

Rep. Bill DeWeese (D., Greene) drew similarities between the trooper's actions and theft-of-services charges filed against lawmakers and legislative staffers accused of doing personal and political work on state time. DeWeese was among those charged. His case has not yet gone to trial.

DeWeese pointed to charges that were filed against former State Rep. Brett Feese (R., Lycoming) and his former secretary, Jill Seaman, by the state Attorney General's Office in 2009, when Corbett was attorney general. The pair offered another staffer Feese's four-wheel-drive state car so she could get safely from Harrisburg to a campaign event in Bloomsburg during a snowstorm.

"If it's a crime for them to grant a staffer permission to use his state vehicle in a snowstorm, then Mr. Corbett needs to think about whether it's fundamentally acceptable for a state trooper on state time to use a state vehicle to help the wife of a cabinet secretary after an arrest," DeWeese said.

State Rep. Mike Vereb (R., Montgomery), a former Conshohocken police officer, saw things differently.

"This is a judgment the trooper made," he said. "I don't think it is outrageous. The question is: Did the trooper violate department policy?"

Government watchdogs in Harrisburg denounced what they called improper use of state resources and complained that the governor last week called the DUI arrest a personal matter.

Eric Epstein, founder of the activist group Rock the Capitol, said that Georgina Zogby's troubles should be private, but that they become a matter of public concern when "the taxpayers underwrite private cab service for the privileged."

Zogby is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 13 on charges of fleeing from police and driving under the influence as well as five traffic citations.