CHUCK MCCULLOUGH ARRESTED

From the P-G:

Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough was arrested and arraigned today on nearly two dozen counts following an investigation last year of his handling of an elderly widow's trust funds.

A county grand jury today handed up a 52-page presentment that alleges Mr. McCullough, an attorney, and his sister, Kathleen A. McCullough, bilked money from the $14.5 million trust fund of an Upper St. Clair widow, Shirley H. Jordan, 90.

And PXI has the perp walk.

The P-G has the criminal complaint.

More from the P-G:

This afternoon, the attorney representing Mr. McCullough said that he was "surprised and very disappointed," by the criminal charges.

Following the publication of the Post-Gazette stories, said Attorney Clifford Levine, Allegheny County Orphan's Court required Mr. McCullough and Northwest Savings Bank, which oversaw Ms. Jordan's trust, to provide a thorough accounting of expenditures. That was done in May 2007, and in August 2008, the court signed off on it, Mr. Levine said.

"We thought that matter had been put to rest, and we could move past that."

Notice anything interesting? Republican McCullough's attorney is Clifford Levine. This Clifford Levine:

Pittsburgh attorney Clifford Levine, who was chairman of the fundraiser [of June, 2007], said 225 people participated in the event, which raised about $150,000 for Obama's campaign.

"The luncheon was extremely successful," Levine said.

The event helped expand the campaign's Western Pennsylvania steering committee, Levine said. The committee hopes to have Obama return to Pittsburgh in the fall for "a big community rally," he said.

THAT must've been an interesting first meeting!

It should be noted that I interviewed Attorney Levine a number of months ago when I sat in for Lynn Cullen.

UPDATE: Something interesting from page 8 of the Complaint:

18 4906A FALSE REPORTS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTH M2 1 COUNT

The actor knowingly gave false testimony namely ON APRIL 18, 2007 DEFENDANT KNOWINGLY AND FALSELY REPORTED TO UPPER ST. CLAIR POLICE DEPARTMENT THAT DENNIS RODDY HARASSED SHIRLEY H. JORDAN WHEN NO SUCH INCIDENT OF HARASSMENT BY DENNIS RODDY HAD OCCURRED to a law enforcement officer with intent to implicate another in violation of 18 Pa. C. S. § 4906(a) [Caps in original]

So whether the handling of the Ms Jordan's funds is illegal (and let's remember McCullough is innocent until proven guilty) there's the side issue of the false reports to law enforcement.

That can't be good. For Chuck.