Kane ignores recommendation to fire Jonathan Duecker due to sexual harassment accusations

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane's own personnel office has recommended she fire her newly appointed chief of staff after two female employees alleged he made unwanted sexual advances toward them, according to people with knowledge of the advice.

The Human Resources section sent the advisory memo to Kane shortly after she named Jonathan Duecker to the top post last month, recommending his termination for violating both the office's internal policy on sexual harassment as well as state rules governing such behavior, the sources said.

Kane spokesman Chuck Ardo said he could not comment on the recommendation or even confirm there was one.

Asked whether Kane was reconsidering the promotion, Ardo said: "As far as I know, nothing has changed as to his status."

Duecker, 51, did not respond to a message on his phone seeking comment. The Citizens Voice newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, which first reported the dismissal recommendation, said he hung up on its reporter.

The Inquirer has reported that five days before Kane promoted Duecker from supervisor of the office's 150 narcotics agents, she received a report from her internal affairs office summarizing an investigation into allegations that he had groped one woman and made improper sexual advances to another.

The recommendation from the Human Resources unit that Duecker be fired from his new $140,421-a-year post was made several days after Kane appointed him, the sources said.

Ardo has said Kane stands by her decision and has full confidence in her chief of staff. Since his promotion, Duecker has informed the staff he oversees of all personnel matters, sources say.

In an interview with The Inquirer last month, Michele Kluk, an assistant prosecutor in the Attorney General's Office, said that in February 2014, Duecker slipped his hand underneath her blouse at a Hazleton bar where Duecker and colleagues had gathered. He also tried to touch her leg under her skirt, she said.

She said she reported the incident to her supervisor within days.

Ardo has said that after Kluk reported the incident, the office conducted an "informal review" and determined no further action was warranted. The office never made a judgment about the veracity of the allegation.

According to Ardo, Duecker has a "different interpretation" of what happened with Kluk.

The second woman, an agent, reported that Duecker made unwanted advances toward her in a house the Attorney General's Office rented in Hazleton for agents working with the Mobile Street Crimes unit, The Inquirer has reported. It is unclear when the alleged incident occurred or when she came forward.

She said that when she and Duecker were there one evening, he put his hand on her leg, at which point she left for her room. She said she later awoke to find Duecker in her room, sources have told The Inquirer. He left without further incident, they said.

Duecker was not interviewed as part of the internal affairs inquiry, the source said.

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