By Corrections1 Staff
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A Pennsylvania county controller has racked up nearly $4,300 fighting a court order to reimburse a probation officer for a $60 pair of pants.
Penn Live reports that County Controller Krista Rogers has paid her solicitor about $4,285, as of Sept. 26, to fight the court order. Last December, probation officer Luke Ellison ripped his pants while chasing down an offender who fled because she failed to report as required.
Ellison requested a reimbursement for the pants, but Rogers refused to do so. On Jan. 17, a judge ordered Rogers to repay Ellison and take the $60 from the offender supervision fund. The judge said that although the county doesn’t provide work pants, Ellison was entitled to reimbursement because they were damaged in the course of his duties.
Ellison was eventually reimbursed by Rogers, who did so as a fringe benefit and withheld taxes on the $60, but she continues to appeal the court order.
Rogers said if she’s successful in her appeal, she will ask Ellison to repay the county the $60.