WYOMING, Pa. — A federal lawsuit accusing a state trooper of violating the civil rights of a former mayor in Luzerne County and his now-deceased girlfriend is poised to remain in the courts until the end of the year.
The lawsuit, brought in 2019 by ex-Wyoming borough Mayor Robert Boyer and former Borough Manager Tamra Smith, alleged Trooper Michael Mulvey misrepresented facts to get a search warrant for their homes and offices in 2018. In federal court filings, Mulvey denied the claims.
"During the course of his investigation, Trooper Mulvey applied for, and was granted, search warrants to search Plaintiffs’ residences," his attorneys said in filings. At no time did Trooper Mulvey misrepresent facts to the District Judge, nor did he omit facts."
The lawsuit soon stalled because a criminal investigation remained ongoing, according to court filings. That criminal investigation, however, appeared to quietly wrap up.
Court documents show that, in June 2021, the state attorney general’s office told Boyer’s attorneys that a grand jury probe had concluded and the state attorney general's office declined to file charges. The case, Mulvey's attorneys wrote, then went to the Luzerne County district attorney's office. No charges have been brought.
The civil case against Mulvey began to inch forward again.
Now, five years after first filing their claims, a judge has set an October deadline for the last of the legal briefs before the case can head toward a conclusion.
Attorney Barry Dyller, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit, said Boyer is seeking to clear his name.
"Mulvey was not conducting a legitimate investigation in seeking search warrants, but instead only sought to embarrass Ms. Smith and Mr. Boyer and damage their reputations," the attorneys wrote.
In filings, Mulvey denied claims made by Boyer and Smith and disputed the charge that he conducted searches without probable cause or that he sought to cause embarrassment.
A state police spokesman declined to comment to Newswatch 16 because the case remains in litigation. An attorney representing Mulvey did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the filing, Mulvey searched Smith’s home and accounting business in January 2018, when she was Wyoming borough manager, amidst an investigation of alleged financial misdeeds involving the Wyoming Free Library and Wyoming Hose Company 1.
In May 2018, investigators then raided the home of her boyfriend, Boyer, who served as borough mayor for 12 years until his defeat in November 2017. The search was based on an allegation he tried to violate the state’s ethics act, according to the lawsuit.
Boyer supported a grant application that would improve a banquet facility at the West Wyoming Hose Company. Boyer’s support for the grant, Mulvey alleged, could create a conflict of interest because Boyer owned a catering business and food truck and occasionally rented the banquet hall, court filings show.
Boyer wrote a letter supporting the project because “it sought to improve emergency medical services to Wyoming Borough” and would have received no financial benefit from the grant, his attorneys said.
