WILLIAMSPORT -- The Lycoming County District Attorney reached out to the state attorney general's office and said the mayor's actions warrant a criminal investigation. There are claims Mayor Gabriel Campana took expense reimbursements he wasn't allowed to have.
"A review by my office has revealed several reimbursements that may, in fact, be illegitimate, and therefore warrant further criminal investigation," said District Attorney Eric Linhardt.
Linhardt wants to avoid a conflict of interest, so he is now handing off the investigation to the attorney general's office. We tried to get comments from Mayor Campana, the district attorney, and city council, but none of them would talk to us, so we went downtown where we found plenty of people willing to talk about the mayor.
"It saddens me because I like Mr. Campana. He has proven to be a good mayor, and I believe that all of this going on is probably not true," said Jerry Trojan.
"Just because you are in a position of power and prestige in our community doesn't mean it's OK to beat on your wife. It doesn't mean it's OK to steal from our coffers here in our county," said Harley McKeag Phillips.
The mayor has said everything he did was approved by the controller and treasurer.
“(The investigation) should not lead one to conclude either I or my office has come to any conclusion about whether the mayor is guilty of any ethical misstep or criminal wrongdoing,” said Linhardt.
"We have to remember that in America we are innocent until proven guilty. So we have to at least give him that level, but we also have to say you know what if you are proven guilty then you need to be punished the same way as if a normal regular person was stealing," said McKeag-Phillips.
Newswatch 16 also reached out to the attorney general’s office. No one there had a comment at this point.