Courthouse documents discovered in home
CONNELLSVILLE – A former Connellsville property owner claimed Thursday that she had done nothing wrong when she took boxes of materials from the Fayette County Courthouse during her 16-year tenure as a custodial employee.
Jacqueline Romanowski sobbed as she talked about the recent discovery of unwrapped blank checks, unused printer paper, audio recordings of apparent court hearings and unused court reporter notebooks, along with other items, found in her former home on North Jefferson Street.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “I loved working at the courthouse.”
The new property owner, Richard Sherwood, found the boxes and crates filled with the items in December.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Sherwood of his initial reaction to finding the county-owned property. “I didn’t understand what (Romanowski) was doing with it.”
According to Sherwood, he purchased the residential duplex at a tax sale in October. However, because the deed was not transferred to him until December, he did not enter the property.
“There were boxes of the stuff everywhere – upstairs and in the basement,” said Sherwood, adding that he was not permitted in the house until after the sale and deed transfer. “It will be the last time I ever do that.”
With the assistance of state Constable Hubie Coleman, Sherwood contacted courthouse officials, and county Detective Lawrence Curry came to the house and removed “hundreds” of the audiocassettes.
“But, there is still a lot of stuff here,” said Sherwood as he pointed to crates containing other audiotapes and a box containing blank checks still in their original wrapping. “I don’t know what to do with it. I sure don’t want to get into any trouble if I throw it out.”
Coleman and constable Albert “Rocky” Younkin picked up Romanowski on an arrest warrant at a Latrobe residence earlier in the day. The warrant was issued after she had failed to respond to a citation filed by Connellsville’s health officer.
The citation in December charged Romanowski with failure to make repairs to windows, skylights and doorframes at the Jefferson Street property.
According to Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty Jr., Romanowski had not responded to the citation, which prompted the arrest warrant.
Another woman in the home in Latrobe was taken into custody on unrelated charges.
Romanowski said that while a custodian at the courthouse, one of her duties was to collect the daily trash and deposit it in a large trash container.
“I saw they (employees) were throwing out stuff I thought could be used,” she said.
“It was paper and tapes, stuff they were throwing out and I figured they didn’t want it, so I took it home.”
Romanowski said the paper products were used by her to make notes or by younger family members to draw pictures.
“We used the tapes to record music,” she said. “I guess you could call me a recycler.”
Romanowski said that she retired last year from the custodial position and had removed the discarded items throughout her tenure with the county.
She admitted that she had not sought permission to remove the items.
“I really don’t know what all this is about,” she said. “I didn’t do anything wrong; to them this was garbage.”
Sherwood, meanwhile, questions why county officials have been slow in retrieving the property from the house.
“To me, it is wrong for her to have had these things in her house,” he said. “And why would the county throw away unused notebooks, printer paper and checks?
“I know (county officials) have said that the checks aren’t any good, but I think in the hands of the wrong people, a lot of money could be had.”
Curry, meanwhile, said that the county does plan to recover the remaining items from Sherwood’s home and inventory the contents before making a determination whether charges will be filed against Romanowski.
A preliminary hearing for the property code violation levied against Romanowski is scheduled for Tuesday.