State agency raids DA's office after whistleblower suit alleging job scam for wife
Updated: A North Carolina district attorney’s office was raided by the state Wednesday, amid allegations that the man and another county’s DA agreed to hire each other’s wives in a reported scam that would collect more than $100,000 for work rarely performed.
Based on court documents, the investigation involves Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer and Person/Caswell County District Attorney Wallace Bradsher, the Greensboro News & Record reports. Charges have not been filed in either county. The search warrant targeted a computer “in the possession of the Rockingham County District Attorney,” according to a request to seal the search warrant, the News & Record reported.
Blitzer on Saturday announced that he had resigned from the position.
“It is my hope that my resignation will help to promote the continued orderly administration of justice for district 17A,” the statement (PDF) read.
Roy Cooper, the North Carolina governor, appointed Tom Keith to serve as the interim Rockingham County district attorney, the Winston-Salem Journal reports.
A whistleblower complaint brought by a former Caswell County employee alleges that Blitzer and Bradsher came up with a scheme to hire their wives, Cindy Blitzer and Pamela Bradsher, in jobs that could earn them more than $100,000 in salaries.
The women rarely worked, says plaintiff Debra Halbrook, who also claims that Wallace Bradsher fired her after he learned that she reported him to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Blitzer and Bradsher did not respond to an ABA Journal request for comment at press time.
Also on Wednesday, the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts released a statement that the Rockingham County Superior Court would be closed until March 20.
“I’m just looking to work,” Superior Court Judge Stuart Albright, who was assigned to the Mecklenburg County Superior Court for next week, told the News & Record. “I was reassigned to that courthouse because that is where a judge was needed.”
Updated March 12 to include information about Blizter’s resignation
