HUGHESVILLE -- An attorney in Lycoming County is making harsh accusations against the county district attorney.
Attorney Mary Kilgus says Lycoming County District Attorney Eric Lindhart intentionally targeted her for a criminal investigation since she is his political rival for a judge's seat.
Kilgus says she has filed a complaint with state law officials against Lindhart, accusing him of using his office to target her in a criminal investigation.
Kilgus and Lindhart are running against each other this year for a judge's seat on the Court of Common Pleas and she believes Lindhart deliberately launched the investigation against her.
“I think he targeted me specifically because he knew I was going to run against him,” said Kilgus, who owns the Kilgus Law Firm. “And he did that because he wanted to stop me from running.”
Last month, state police and the attorney general's office seized computers and paperwork from Kilgus's office in Hughesville, investigating allegations that Kilgus was misusing clients' money.
Lindhart says those claims were initially made to his office, but after Kilgus announced she was running for judge, he let the attorney general's office take over.
“It clearly became a conflict of interest for me to be investigating Ms. Kilgus, and so the very next day, on January 13, I formerly requested the office of attorney general to assume complete responsibility for the case,” said Lindhart.
Last week, the attorney general's office says it dropped its investigation on Kilgus and returned the items that were seized.
Kilgus says it's clear the authorities never looked at those items since the tape sealing them is unbroken.
“I know what I'm looking at when I get boxes back and the tape isn't broken. That means that nobody even opened the evidence boxes,” said Kilgus.
According to Lindhart, that's not exactly correct.
“The Office of Attorney General, in their letter to Ms. Kilgus, made clear that they were not exonerating her, that they were simply deferring this investigation to the Office of Disciplinary Council so as to avoid any parallel investigation,” said Lindhart.
Kilgus confirms she is still being investigated by the state disciplinary board.
Lindhart says the board can request those items from Kilgus's office.