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| NEWS > 01 December 2005 |
Other related articles:
UK: Misconduct trial jury told
DRUG baron Allan Foster stole a ten-Carat diamond ring he had claimed to be viewing on behalf of a Newcastle United footballer, a court heard yesterday.
Foster was so trusted by the boss of an exclusive jewellers in the MetroCentre, in Gateshead, that he was able to take it on approval without a deposit.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the crime boss asked Sam Hamadi to find a ten-Carat diamond ring on behalf of a Newcastle United footballer, who wanted it as a gift for his pregnant wife.
Foster chose the £80,000 ring and promised to come back within days to either re... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Philadelphia Daily News - PA,
01 December 2005
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Sheriff John Green releases re
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Sheriff's aide is back on the
After a brief internal investigation, Sheriff John Green yesterday reinstated the deputy who oversees sheriff's sales, finding no evidence of illegality or preferential treatment in his private real-estate purchases.
Green relieved Darrell R. Stewart of his duties Nov. 16 after the Daily News raised questions about five properties that Stewart and his wife, also a sheriff's employee, purchased after the real estate went through sheriff's sales to buyers who then sold the homes to them.
Although Stewart was reinstated, he will no longer act as auctioneer at the monthly sheriff's sale, Green said. Before Stewart became auctioneer, Green for years had hired outside contractors.
Green said he had taken the action in response to a Daily News question about the propriety of Stewart's taking public bids from a buyer who earlier gave him loans to buy properties that came through sheriff's sale.
Green also wants to create a new position, an "integrity officer," who would ensure ethical behavior in his department. Ellen Green-Ceisler, a former sheriff's office employee and a former integrity officer in the Police Department, is a candidate for the job, he said.
The sheriff also produced a nine-point code of ethics that all sheriff's office employees will be asked to observe. The code asks employees to abide by all laws, to provide equal delivery of service and to pledge not to use their jobs for personal gain.
"I shall adhere, at all times, to the standards and principles of honesty and integrity," is one of the nine points.
Conspicuously absent from the code was any reference to the issue surrounding Stewart's suspension - whether sheriff's employees can buy properties at sheriff's sale or buy them from a third party who buys at the monthly auctions.
In an interview last month, Green said that he had not known of Stewart's real-estate activity and that sheriff's employees were barred from bidding at sheriff's sales by a long-standing but unwritten policy.
Yesterday, Green said that he'd sent proposed language to City Solicitor Romulo Diaz and that the Law Department asked him to wait until city attorneys could review the language.
Joe Grace, Mayor Street's spokesman, confirmed the Law Department's action, but emphasized that sheriff's employees already are governed by a number of ethics rules.
"There are clear rules governing conduct of people who work for the city, and these ethics rules govern people in the sheriff's office including conflict-of-interest provisions," Grace said.
Catherine Hicks, Green's spokeswoman, said late yesterday that the new language would not prohibit employees from buying properties at sheriff's sale but would set "guidelines" for such activity.
During a news conference yesterday, Green asked how he could prevent an employee from participating in a competitive-bidding process as long as the person wasn't working at the time, possessed no inside information and received no "special recognition or favors" from the people conducting the sheriff's sale.
Of Stewart, Green said, "There was no way that Mr. Stewart could have used the inside information in obtaining the properties because, quite frankly, there is no inside information that people in the sheriff's office would have that is not public knowledge."
Reflecting on what he described as a "very painstaking investigation," Green said, "Nothing occurred that can be described as wrong, but we are talking about perception and we're talking about ensuring the confidence of the citizens of Philadelphia."
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