True stories from the case files of A Town Gone Bad
Pennsylvania DA Tom Kearney asks FBI to investigate Corbett security contractor with ties to pedophile sex ring
An aspect of the growing courthouse child sex and prostitution scandal was covered-up and protected by then-Attorney General Tom Corbett
Corbett contractor Russ Wantz has close ties to courthouse pedophile ring
Three York County PA judges - Renn, Linebaugh, and Musti Cook - concealed complaints of courthouse pedophile ring involving Wantz and Attorney Larry Heim
Untrustworthy: Gov. Tom Corbett does the cha-cha (top). Corbett security contractor Wantz in 2007 police mugshot (middle). Wantz's lawyer and campaign chairman Larry Heim (bottom) says he enjoys sex with kids, and that Corbett and county judges protect the practice.
Video: Police chief powerless to stop courthouse sex ring
Video: York lawyer Larry Heim boasts of courthouse pedophile ring
Wantz preliminary hearing video
Jerry Sandusky Grand Jury report
November 16, 2011 -- District Attorney Tom Kearney, of York County, PA, has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate longstanding allegations that Corbett Administration security provider Russell Wantz, Jr. has ongoing close ties to a prostitution and pedophile ring centered in and around the York County courthouse.
Sex offender Wantz, of York County, was arrested in a Craigslist sting in December 2007, by Swatara Township police. In 2009, Wantz was granted an ARD by Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico. At the time Marsico refused to investigate Wantz further.
Wantz is the owner of the Schaad Detective Agency of York. Schaad holds multi-million dollar security contracts with the administration of Gov. Tom Corbett. Schaad guards sensitive state complexes such as the PennDot headquarters in Harrisburg.
Among the allegations reviewed by DA Kearney and his county detectives are complaints that Wantz's campaign manager and lawyer, Larry "L.C." Heim, also of York, openly displayed to several clients photos of a young girl whom Heim openly boasts he'd bought for sex.
One former client of Heim's has even voiced his concerns on a Youtube video that Attorney Heim, while leaving a Liquor Control Board hearing, openly displayed photos of a young girl who Heim said he bought for sexual purposes. Three of Heim's cleints so far have come forward to say lawyer Heim showed them the photo of his sex victim. "Larry must've shown that photo to half the town," one client says.
In his formal request for the FBI to investigate state security contractor Wantz, DA Kearney notes that his office has a conflict of interest prosecuting members the well-protected York County courthouse prostitution and pedophile ring. "I would have a clear conflict of interest in any prosecution," Kearney writes.
An aspect of the growing courthouse sex scandal was covered-up and protected by then-Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Attorney General Corbett refused to investigate related complaints filed in 2005 by Chief County Detective Becky Downing in a federal lawsuit. In court papers Downing complained that York courthouse personnel used a state police forensic evidence computer to view child pornography.
In a sworn deposition for the lawsuit, York County Detective Jeffrey Martz was asked, "Was there an incident where (a law enforcement official working for the district attorney's office) improperly accessed a child porn website from the PSP (Pennsylvania State Police) in your office? Do you remember that?"
"Yes," Det. Martz replies. "I conduct forensic examinations on computers through my investigations, as well as other county departments. I am assigned a laptop computer issued to me by the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Unit. That particular laptop is used strictly for forensic analysis.
"I recall Detective Millsaps asking me to go into my office to 'use the computer,' is how he expressed it, to later find out that he, as well as the information service representative, loaded the internet onto my forensic laptop and there was pornography observed."
AG Corbett's office repeatedly refused to prosecute, or even to investigate, those involved -- some have close political ties to his office. Corbett, now the governor of Pennsylvania, is also currently enmeshed in another institutional pedophile scandal involving former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.
In February 2005, AG Tom Corbett's office ridiculed anyone suspecting Corbett was unwilling to investigate Chief Downing's complaints.
"The attorney general's office and Tom Corbett are fully capable of conducting an independent investigation into the allegations that are detailed in the civil suit and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous and disingenuous," Corbett's PR flack, Kevin Harley, told the York Daily Record on February 26, 2005.
York Attorney Larry Heim openly brags that he engages in sexual activity with under aged minors. He says he's protected by York County judges, as well AG Corbett's refusal to investigate.
AG Tom Corbett's office waited a year, until February 2006, to publicly announce that Chief Downing's allegations were "unfounded."
Wantz's attorney, York Attorney Larry Heim, for his part openly brags to clients and others that he engages in sexual activity with under aged minors. Heim says that he and the others in the not-too-secret courthouse pedophile ring are effectively protected by the involvement of York County judges, as well AG Corbett's refusal to investigate. One of Heim's clients says that Heim boasted that his law firm had funneled legal work to one of the county judges before she got on the bench, and that gifts of Havana cigars have been purchased for judges to "look the other way."
Attorney Heim claims York County District Court President Judge Stephen Linebaugh, former President Judge Richard K. Renn, and Judge Maria Musti Cook protect the courthouse pedophile and prostitution ring. Heim's law partner, Robert Katherman, chaired Judge Cook's campaign for county judge.
When informed of Heim's statements, judges Linebaugh, Renn and Cook threatened court retaliation against any who would report the growing courthouse pedophile ring scandal. None of the three York judges reported to law enforcement the allegations they'd repeatedly heard of the courthouse child sex ring.
DA Kearney told the FBI that concerned citizens and even high-ranking law enforcement officials in York County are helpless to stop the well-placed courthouse pedophile and prostitution ring. DA Kearney in his letter asked the FBI to "review and follow-up."
"I note that both (former York City controller) James Sneddon and former York City Police Chief Herb Grofcsik both confirmed in recorded interviews that information ... was forwarded to ... Federal authorities although it is unclear what became of that investigation," Kearney wrote in a letter sent to the FBI.
Former York Police Commissioner Grofcsik, now with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a sworn statement that he feared the local FBI office in Harrisburg would not investigate the courthouse sex ring due to its close ties with the York DA's office, where Wantz is also a contractor with the county drug task force, with close ties to state and federal law enforcement figures. Grofcsik asked another federal law enforcement agency to investigate Wantz, and others, with close tie to the York courthouse. That investigation, Grofcsik said he feared, got "File 13."
Wantz unsuccessfully ran for public office this spring. He lost a primary election bid for Springettsbury Township, York County, supervisor. Attorney Heim, who admits to clients that he enjoys sex with minors, is listed in campaign records as Wantz's campaign chairman.
Related articles and links:
Timeline: An insider's timeline of the Sandusky/PSU/Corbett scandal
Busted: Narcotics agent nabs Jerry Sandusky
'JoePA' takes the fall: A slow Tom Corbett throws Joe Paterno under the bus
PA Attorney General Tom Corbett was obstacle preventing 'VIP' sex ring investigation
Video: York lawyer Larry Heim boasts of courthouse pedophile ring
Jerry Sandusky Grand Jury report
Another drug prosecutor vanishes on a Pennsylvania car ride
Authorities say they're not serious about investigating the
disappearance of DA Ray GricarPennsylvania DAs plan meeting to discuss Gricar, Luna disappearances
DA Ray Gricar's laptop is found in area previously extensively searched
Police: Gricar's hard drive found
Bubba Takes the Fall: Missing county sofa found in DA's basement
York County has long history of harming kids
Depostion of Det. Jeffrey Martz
Pennsylvania State Police launch investigation into PA Turnpike security provider
PA Turnpike security contractor seeks federal injunction to ban Luna book
Wantz dropped from PA House hearing on private investigators
External links:
Sex bust nabs state security contractor -- ABC News
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