Paul Pozonsky, former Pa. judge, charged with stealing cocaine from cases

(CBS/KDKA) PITTSBURGH - State police charged former Pennsylvania judge Paul Pozonsky on Thursday with stealing cocaine from evidence in cases over which he presided, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

The station said Pozonsky served as a Washington County judge for almost 30 years, starting out as a magistrate and then moving to the Common Pleas Court. He resigned from the bench abruptly in 2012.

According to KDKA, the former judge moved to Alaska last year where he was employed for a brief period of time as a worker's compensation hearing officer. He quit when questions about his residency arose.

The station said that in May of 2011, Pozonsky apparently began asking that officers bring the confiscated drugs into his courtroom where they would be entered as evidence and kept by either the judge himself of members of his staff, said CBS Pittsburgh.

Authorities said then in May of the following year, when police checked the evidence envelopes, they found that cocaine was either gone or the drugs had been tampered with, reported the station.

"I...I'm really not in a position to discuss with any particularity the allegations now," said Bob Del Greco, Pozonsky's lawyer.

"This is troubling. This is humbling as you might expect," Del Greco told KDKA. "And it's a serious matter and he's taking it as such."