Coroner Says the Battle is Political

Pittsburgh Attorney Ira Weiss

(from TV Interview with David Croyle)

The Armstrong County Commissioners had concluded their public meeting Thursday afternoon, February 4. Both the commissioners and the public in attendance of less than ten individuals heard comments made by Pittsburgh attorney Ira Weiss, hired by the commissioners, as he gave details on how pornographic material was discovered on the computer systems issued to Coroner Robert Bower.

Bower was walking down the street when he first learned of the meeting that he did not attend.

“I had no knowledge of the meeting. I get a copy of the agenda of the meeting and no of it involved me so therefore I didn’t go to the meeting. Certainly this was done surreptitiously without any input from me at all,” Bower began.

Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower

“I believe from the beginning when this first came out that it was all politically motivated. The commissioners and I don’t see eye-to-eye under this present administration and hasn’t been for the past four or six years. Under the Right-To-Know Act, I have asked them for a lot of information and they are certainly upset with me. I never thought it would go to this.”

Bower gave details of the series of events that took place last April 2009. “For several months, my computer was not operating correctly. Finally I took it into the IT department. Two weeks later when I came back from vacation, they told me the hard drive was taken out because there was material found on it. Actually, I was approached by the District Attorney who told me about it because he was given the material by the county commissioners for review. I was notified by the District Attorney Scott Andreassi that there was pornography material on the computer. I had no knowledge of that.”

Bower said Andreassi told him that since the computers only contained adult pornography (not a criminal offense), that Andreassi had informed the commissioners there was nothing that could be done. “It was only later that I learned that the county commissioners had hired a special counsel out of Pittsburgh to review the material.”

Bower then described the events that led up to yesterday’s public revelation.

“The Coroner’s Office never did have an office space. My office was at home. Therefore my computer at home was accessible by children. As I know now, this originated back with a young teenager at home. I feel bad. This was to remain confidential because there was nothing on it…that warranted any charges.”

Bower absolutely denied accessing pornography. “I am not into that. I had a computer from the county that was given to me by the county. It was never password protected. I never had any reason to password protect it because I used it myself at home, not knowing that someone else was on it.  I didn’t allow [family members to access it, but] they were on it. I am not home all the time. Not only do I work in the capacity as County Coroner, I also work at the hospital full time.  Therefore, many times at home, there was one child at home that had access to the computer and was using it without my knowledge. If I had any knowledge at all [that my child was downloading pornography], I would have never taken that computer to IT to be repaired. They would have never seen it. I had no idea. It caught me totally off guard. I took it to IT, they found the information, then they went to my office without my knowledge and using a passkey got into my office and took out that hard drive.

Bower said that in approximately late 2004, he had moved his office out of his home to a county facility that was provided to him by Community Action Agency, not by the commissioners.It was there at his office that IT technicians scoured his desktop computer and found additional pornographic material.

“They went out there and got into the computer because of what they found on the laptop.”

Currently, Bower has a desktop still available for his use at his office in the Armsdale Administration Building.  When asked who has access to his computer, he answered, “Good question. I have access to it and apparently IT has access to it and whoever has keys to that office has access to it. Apparently they were in that office without my knowledge, so who else has keys? I don’t know.”

Weiss made the allegation that “thousands” of pictures were uncovered. Bower disagreed. “I was told 182 images at the meeting. I don’t know where the thousands came into. I am certainly old enough to know that if you get on those websites, you could probably go through a thousand pictures real quick. And certainly if it were over a number of years, I suppose it wouldn’t be hard to get a thousand on it. My understanding is that there were 182 pictures. That is what I was told. If that’s true, and it is true, they shouldn’t be there. But, am I into that kind of material? The answer is no!”

When the event happened in April 2009, Bower said that, because there was no crime committed, there was an agreement to not go public with the information.

“What is the difference what the date is? What is the difference if there is a pattern? [Pornography] shouldn’t be [in the computer] in the first place. Now the question is, why – if it was suppose to remain confidential because there was nothing on there that was criminal – why all of a sudden did the county commissioners bring it to the public forum? It is politically motivated. There is no question! They know that during the last commissioner’s race, I had a petition ready to go. I was going to run for county commissioner. I chose not to. They know I was going to run in two years. I am sure that they do not want to be in a position to have anyone run against them, especially someone who is already in an elected capacity. Through the years I have kept a pretty high profile and certainly a professional profile. Why would I ever jeopardize myself with that kind of material on my computer?”

Bower has been the Armstrong County Coroner for the past 24 years. “My plan was to run for county commissioner and it still is not out of the picture. I don’t know where this is going to take me. I think they have purposely and publicly want to humiliate me. I have told them themselves, ‘This is the worst administration that I have ever worked under.’ If you look at where we are in the state, recently we were one of three counties in southwestern Pennsylvania with the highest unemployment rate. Recently, we are one of ten counties that are the most poor economic counties.  What are the county commissioners doing? We have no jobs. We have high unemployment. They should be focusing towards industry and jobs. Instead, we are putting kitchens in the county commissioners office, last year we spent $17,000 in Christmas decorations, and I see this year they added to the decorations. We’re focusing in the wrong direction. They know that. And they know how I feel. They know I want to run. I think they are publicly persecuting me. That is my feeling.”

“There is nothing wrong with them looking into it because they are right,” Bower concedes. “It shouldn’t be on a county computer! But I had no willful knowledge that that was on the computer until I took the computer to the IT department. It was at that point, if there was a question, and they had it investigated by the District Attorney, by the Attorney General, and by Mr. Weiss, and found there was nothing on there that was criminal, then why all of a sudden do they want to make it a public event?”

Although Weiss said the county reissued the laptop to Bower, he disagrees. “I do not have a laptop back. They confiscated it and I never did get it back. I do have a desktop. I [also] have my own personal computer [laptop].”

Bower said he uses the computer for a forensic filer program that is Internet-based, but is concerned now about using it. “I don’t want to find myself in this position again. I am not happy with it. I am very unhappy, very disappointed. At the same time, it is what it is and you take your bumps and bruises in politics like everyone else does.

Bower, weary from the shock of the news, kept vacillating between still considering his bid for the commissioner’s race and throwing in the towel.

“They don’t like my perspective of their administration.   I have called them to the carpet a number of times with the Right-To-Know Act to get information. And they know I am looking into what I feel is bad county practices as far as where we are economically and job-wise. I wanted to be in that position to try to bring something to the forefront should I run for county commissioner and should I be elected. They have put me in a position now where I probably will not run and that is where they want me to be. If it comes out to winners and losers, they win.”

Bower said he was caught totally off guard by yesterday’s events. “Not prepared at all.”

“I can’t get on my knees and ask for forgiveness. What was on that computer is what it is. I have taken steps to password protect my computer. We don’t want that stuff on there. At the same time, as anyone knows who uses a computer, if you type in a wrong letter looking for a website, you can be on one of those sites. It puts me in a position where I am scared to death to type in the wrong letter and find out I get on a site only to find out that I am going to be put on stage a second time.