Lawsuit filed against Penn Hills leaders alleges corruption and collusion

Five officers with the Penn Hills Police Department filed a civil lawsuit against the township and several of its leaders, alleging corruption and collusion.

The lawsuit, which is hundreds of pages, names the municipality of Penn Hills, its council, Mayor Pauline Calabrese and the Penn Hills Police Department Advisory Board.

Police Chief Jason Bonace is not named as a defendant, but the complaint argues civil service rules were violated to promote him from K-9 officer to police chief. 

According to the lawsuit, the civil service rules state that a person must have spent five years as a supervisor and achieved the rank of lieutenant. The suit claims the council retroactively changed the rules to accommodate Bonace's promotion and goes on to say Bonace's actions created a hostile work environment.  

The plaintiffs also allege the council agreed to implement an act allowing officers to reach 25 years of service sooner and retire with full benefits in exchange for the police advisory board agreeing to a 12-hour shift trial period of one year. The lawsuit claims everyone signed the agreement, but the act was never implemented.

The chief did not attend the council meeting on Monday, but Mayor Calabrese was there.

"I'm not surprised, but this is business as usual," Calabrese said. "I will just say we don't comment specifically on personnel matters. But I have confidence that our solicitor will respond, and there are two sides to every story."

The plaintiff's attorney, Kimberly Gompers, said she could not comment because of the ongoing litigation and the plaintiffs are all current employees. The defendants have 20 days to respond.