SUNBURY — A third Northumberland County sheriff's deputy is out of a job amid a pornography scandal that erupted at the end of December.
Deputy Thomas Drust, of Shamokin, was fired Friday from the $16 an hour job he's held since April 10, 1991.
He is filing a grievance opposing the firing, but would not comment further.
Sheriff Chad Reiner issued a press release late Friday afternoon announcing Drust's termination for viewing pornographic websites on office computers.
"I am disappointed because this type of conduct does not represent my personal values, the values of the community and the values of the sheriff's office," Reiner said.
It's the third firing since deputies Joseph Jones and Michael Boris, both of Mount Carmel, were relieved of duty Jan. 13, just two weeks after Northumberland County Commissioner Vinny Clausi publicly disclosed that two unidentified staff in the sheriff's office were looking at pornographic websites during work hours on office computers.
The official reason Reiner stated for their termination was for violating the department's computer policy by failing to secure their log-on passwords and making sure no inappropriate material was retrieved using their passwords.
In his statement Friday, Reiner, a Democrat, said he asked for a full investigation after learning about the computer misuse last November.
The county paid Digital Forensic Solutions, of Pittsburgh $5,250 to examine 15 sheriff's department computers.
The Daily Item filed a formal request in early April to review the report, but county officials denied it because the findings were being used in a pending defamation suit filed against Clausi and the county by Jones and Boris.
According to Reiner, the investigation turned up evidence that in addition to Boris and Jones, Drust had accessed "numerous" Web sites containing pornographic material.
The sheriff said he took "decisive and immediate action" terminating Drust for misuse of county computer equipment and county Internet access.
Clausi said the county turned over the findings in the Digital Forensic Solutions to Reiner a few weeks ago.
"We told Chad it was up to him to do something," said Clausi, a Democrat. "Now that everything is completed, it's time to turn the corner and move on."
Republican Commissioner Kurt Masser said it was Reiner's responsibility to resolve and he wouldn't comment on how it was handled.
"You'd hope that people would do their jobs and not abuse resources," he said.
Jones and Boris have been replaced by Nicole Baker and Mikhail Mironenko, both of whom are paid $13.52 an hour.
n E-mail comments to mmoore@dailyitem.com
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