Criminal charges expected against Kane

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman has decided to bring criminal charges against Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane for allegedly leaking confidential documents and then lying about it under oath, The Inquirer has learned.

After nearly six months of review and fresh investigation, Ferman has endorsed a grand jury's recommendation that Kane be arrested for releasing the documents in a bid to embarrass a critic, according to people familiar with her decision.

Gerald Shargel, one of Kane's lawyers, said Wednesday that he could not confirm that the attorney general would soon face charges. Shargel said Kane vigorously denies any wrongdoing and would not resign if arrested.

Kane, 49, the first Democrat and first woman to be elected attorney general, could not be reached for comment. Ferman, a Republican who is running for a judgeship in the fall election, declined comment.

In December, the grand jury recommended that Kane be charged with obstruction, official oppression, perjury, false swearing, and contempt of court. The panel, led by Special Prosecutor Thomas Carluccio, brought no charges, but forwarded its findings to Ferman.

The panel found that Kane released documents to the Philadelphia Daily News last March about a 2009 investigation headed by a former top state prosecutor, Frank Fina.

The probe involved the financial dealings of J. Whyatt Mondesire, at the time the head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP. Mondesire was not charged. The grand jury said Kane leaked the information to suggest that Fina bungled the investigation.

Sources have said Kane blamed Fina for an article in The Inquirer last year revealing that she secretly shut down a sting investigation that caught Philadelphia Democrats on tape accepting cash from an undercover informant. Fina, a top prosecutor under Kane's Republican predecessors, ran the sting.

Leaking the Mondesire information, the jurors found, was Kane's attempt to even the score.

The grand jury also concluded that Kane lied when asked about the matter under oath.

Mondesire has said he may sue for defamation. A Kane spokesman later said it was unfortunate that Mondesire was caught up in the matter. Fina has denied that he erred in his handling of the investigation.

Kane has acknowledged releasing some information related to the Mondesire inquiry, but has said repeatedly that she did so lawfully.

She has said she believes the leak investigation was concocted by Republican men angry at her for shaking up the status quo in the Attorney General's Office.

Kane would be the second attorney general in two decades to face criminal charges.

In 1995, Ernie Preate Jr., a Republican, resigned during his second term after pleading guilty to corruption charges.

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Contributing to this article were Inquirer staff writers Chris Brennan, Laura McCrystal, Maria Panaritis, and Jeremy Roebuck.