Mediaboss Marketing

The citys former sheriff, John D. Green, recently invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination in a civil case involving Sheriffs Office real estate sales.

Greens attorney, Peter J. Scuderi, confirmed Friday his client had cited the Fifth Amendment in declining to answer questions from lawyers in the case. He said that was not significant.

"Taking the Fifth means nothing," Scuderi said. "Its just good lawyering. No competent lawyer would allow his client to answer any questions from anybody during the pendency of such an investigation."

Scuderi said he was referring to an ongoing federal probe of the sheriffs operations by the U.S. Attorneys Office in Philadelphia.

Contacted Saturday at home in East Mount Airy, Green, 64, declined to comment. He retired as sheriff at the end of 2010, after 23 years in charge of the office.

The federal investigation was first reported last year, after city controller Alan Butkovitz alleged widespread financial irregularities during Greens tenure.

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, in part, that no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law."

Green invoked that protection when he was scheduled to give a sworn deposition within the last two months in a class-action case that accuses him and his office of illegally failing to make payments to thousands of people who were owed money from the proceeds of sheriffs sales.

The primary defendants in the case are Green, former acting Sheriff Barbara Deeley, who held the post for all of 2011, and the City of Philadelphia.

The plaintiffs several people who lost properties at sheriffs sales, and an agent for others trying to recover money from the Sheriffs Office allege that within 30 days after the sheriff sells a piece of real estate for unpaid debts or taxes, he is required to prepare a distribution schedule for the proceeds. The schedule is supposed to be available for inspection at the Sheriffs Office.

Go here to read the rest:
Former Sheriff Green takes the Fifth in real estate case