A pair of high-ranking members of the Pennsylvania State Police have filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit against superiors, the state and Gov. Josh Shapiro, claiming they were retaliated against after uncovering a fraud scheme by troopers at Troop P, Wilkes-Barre, to inflate their pay.
They claim they have been targeted for years by top state police officials after President Donald Trump posted a photo on social media in September 2022 of him posing with dozens of uniformed state troopers from Troop P during a campaign speech at the Mohegan Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp.
Capt. Patrick Dougherty, 52, of Shickshinny, and Lt. Derek Felsman, 40, of Jefferson Twp., allege superiors reassigned them from their leadership posts this summer to newly created positions after they reported wrongdoing to state police brass.
The lawsuit claims at least three troopers from Troop P, Wilkes-Barre, consistently worked day shifts, but their time sheets reflected they worked afternoons and nights for eight months, which enabled them to collect a 5% increase in shift differential pay.
State Police Capt. Patrick Dougherty and Lt. Derek Felsman allege in a lawsuit that superiors reassigned them from their leadership posts at Troop P, Wilkes-Barre, after they reported wrongdoing to state police brass. (Citizens’ Voice file)
Dougherty and Felsman said they were not in charge of scheduling, which was the responsibility of sergeants below them.
The pair filed the suit against Lt. Col. George Bivens, who will become acting state police commissioner this week, Dougherty’s then-direct supervisor Major Norman Cramer, the state and Shapiro, whose administration controls the state police. They accuse the defendants of Civil Rights and Whistleblower Law violations.
“Having made a bona fide complaint of shift theft, Plaintiffs believe that they have been deliberately targeted and retaliated against by a State Police Agency desirous of covering up what may well be a very widespread theft,” attorney Mark Schwartz of Bryn Mawr wrote in the lawsuit. “As a result of their whistleblowing, advocating compliance with applicable law, Plaintiffs have suffered and continue to suffer targeted harassment orchestrated by Defendants Major Cramer and Lieutenant Colonel Bivens all to their personal and professional detriment. Incredibly, at a law enforcement agency of all places, these Defendants were upset that Plaintiffs complained about and reported what they recognized as criminal behavior.”
Media representatives for the governor’s office and state police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit claims Dougherty, then the commanding officer of Troop P, was immediately reassigned in July to the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission in Harrisburg to a position that never existed before.
Days later, Felsman was removed from his position as criminal investigation unit commander of Troop P and placed in a newly created position of special projects section commander, which the lawsuit called a “phony” and “made-up broom closet position.” Felsman said he feared continued retaliation at Troop P and later transferred to Troop R, Dunmore.
The lawsuit said top state police officials have targeted Felsman and Dougherty since a photo emerged in September 2022 of 31 uniformed state troopers posing with President Donald Trump, who was not in office at the time, during a visit to the Mohegan Arena to campaign for Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidates for U.S. senator and Pennsylvania governor that year.
Felsman appeared in the photo, which included a Troop P, Wilkes-Barre, banner as a backdrop. Dougherty did not. However, the lawsuit says Dougherty’s superiors tried to have him removed from his position as a result, but were blocked by then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat who downplayed criticisms of the photo saying he didn’t see it as political. However, it was clear the “Democrat front office” that remained in control after Shapiro succeeded Wolf always remained upset about the photo because of Shapiro’s “partisan party leanings,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit claims Dougherty reported the alleged payroll fraud to his immediate supervisor, Cramer, in February and was discouraged from filing a complaint with the state police internal affairs division. Dougherty did anyway.
State Police Capt. Patrick Dougherty, center, and Lt. Derek Felsman, allege in a lawsuit that superiors reassigned them from their leadership posts after they reported wrongdoing to state police brass. (Citizens’ Voice file)
“Plaintiff Dougherty felt that he was 100 percent confident that fraud and theft were taking place and that all three individuals are veterans of the force and are very familiar with PSP rules and procedures,” the lawsuit says. “… After reporting this incident, Plaintiff Dougherty was continually bullied, threatened and retaliated (against) by his immediate supervisor and threatened with removal.”
The three troopers have never been charged with a crime.
Of the three, one was suspended for 25 days and transferred to a “limited responsibility” job and another was given an “honorable discharge,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit does not explain the fate of the third.
“Although the fraud/theft committed reached the threshold for a felony theft by deception and theft of services pursuant to the Crime Code, the PSP never chose to arrest or criminally charge” the troopers, the lawsuit says.
State Police Capt. Patrick Dougherty and Lt. Derek Felsman, pictured, allege in a lawsuit that superiors reassigned them from their leadership posts after they reported wrongdoing to state police brass. (Citizens’ Voice file)