For more than 15 years, well-known Jeannette couple Ronald and Sherry Rager would hunt fugitives, transport prisoners, serve subpoenas and eviction notices, and track court scofflaws throughout western and central Westmoreland County in their work as constables. Now, the Ragers -- who earned more than $250,000 over a three-year period, according to state and county records --- face criminal charges accusing them of falsifying documents and overbilling the county $630. After a 17-month investigation, county detectives charged Ronald, 45, and Sherry Lynn, 43, of 311 N. First Ave., Jeannette, with theft, theft by deception, tampering with public records and making false statements to authorities. Ronald Rager is charged with 12 counts of theft; his wife is charged with 10. The Ragers are charged with one count each of criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen property. According to court records, the Ragers frequently worked for district judges Joseph DeMarchis in Jeannette, Mark Mansour in Hempfield, Helen Kistler in Penn Township, James Albert in Greensburg and Douglas Weimer in North Huntingdon. Detectives Michael Richardson and Paul Burkey allege in a 45-page criminal complaint that the pair would often show up at bars, residences and places of work between May 20, 2005, and Aug. 22, 2006, threatening scofflaws with arrest if they could not come up with overdue fines and court costs owed to magistrates. The detectives allege in an arrest affidavit that the Ragers, acting separately, often would cite a dollar figure to the accused or one of their relatives that could be paid to the constable to stave off an arrest. Once the accused made a payment, the constable would submit an invoice to the district judge to collect fees for transporting a prisoner to the office, usually $50, according to court documents. "The problem in these cases is that (the Ragers) never transported a particular prisoner, took anyone into custody or transported any person to a district justice office, like they claimed when they submitted invoices to a particular district justice. The defendants would then end up paying the $50 fee for providing a service which was never performed," said District Attorney John Peck. Peck said the Ragers are not accused of pocketing any of the court fines and costs they collected. Detectives allege the couple often failed to file required paperwork and sometimes submitted falsified paperwork to the judges. For example, on July 7, 2006, detectives interviewed Samuel J. Aston, 33, of Scott Avenue, Jeannette, who reported he was not home when Ronald Rager showed up at his home in February 2006 to collect an overdue court payment. "Aston advised he later had called Mr. Rager to come and get the money so that he wouldn't have to go to the courthouse and pay a lot of court costs," Richardson wrote in the arrest affidavit. "Mr. Aston advised that he was not at home when Mr. Rager came. He continued that he was not placed in handcuffs, and he was not taken anywhere by Mr. Rager. "He (Aston) advised that his mother paid the ($332) fine, and that was the end of it," the arrest affidavit said. Aston was later charged a $50 transport fee, detectives allege. Paperwork submitted by Rager on the warrant before DeMarchis indicated Aston paid the fine at DeMarchis' office, the complaint said. The investigation began in May 2006 when DeMarchis noticed a service-fee invoice, signed by the Ragers, that did not contain the required warrant paperwork. "Judge DeMarchis continued that the Service Invoice contained numerous fees, for both constables, for transporting the accused to court, having a hearing and then releasing him from custody," Richardson said in the affidavit. DeMarchis, however, related that the accused couldn't have appeared in his court because he was out of town for training. DeMarchis told detectives he questioned Ronald Rager about the invoice on May 15, 2006. "Judge DeMarchis continued that Mr. Rager then told him that he had so much time invested in finding the accused, that that's how he got paid for his time," the arrest affidavit said. The amount of money the Ragers are accused of illegally obtaining during the period is $630, mostly in allegedly false $30 and $50 transport fees, according to court documents. A year ago, the Ragers were informed they could no longer work for DeMarchis, Mansour, Kistler and Weimer. Repeated attempts to reach the Ragers for comment Friday were unsuccessful. In a 2006 interview, Ronald Rager blamed the investigation on confusion over a new county fee policy that required more documentation. He denied stealing any money. According to county records, Ronald Rager earned more than $56,671 in fees in 2005 from the county. In the past three years, he earned a total of $243,629 from the state, according to the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts in Harrisburg. The Ragers turned themselves in to Derry District Judge Mark Bilik on Thursday for arraignment. They were released on recognizance bonds pending a preliminary hearing Sept. 19. The cases were consolidated at Bilik's office by President Judge John Blahovec to avoid a potential conflict of interest with other district judges in the region for whom the Ragers had worked.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---