11 Investigates has learned that hundreds of drivers who were convicted of traffic violations that led to license suspensions years ago were never notified about the suspensions until this year. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re just now learning that their driver\u2019s licenses are being suspended. <\/p>\n
The notices are supposed to be sent out within ten days of a conviction. <\/p>\n
11 Investigates obtained a letter recently sent to a driver who was convicted of fleeing from police in 2017. <\/p>\n
That driver just received notification from PennDOT that the license is being suspended for one year beginning later this month.<\/p>\n
It should have been suspended for a year, following the conviction in 2017.<\/p>\n
11 Investigates discovered that employees in the Allegheny County Department of Court Records failed to forward the notices to PennDOT, causing the delay.<\/p>\n
Chief Investigator Rick Earle sat down with Director Mike McGeever, who admitted that his staff failed to forward approximately 20,000 court notices to PennDOT between 2013 to 2025. <\/p>\n
McGeever said 80% of the notices were sent to PennDOT, but 20% never made it. <\/p>\n
Earle: What happened? Who dropped the ball? <\/p>\n
McGeever: The staff, the staff in our criminal division over the years did drop the ball.<\/p>\n
While McGeever said staff members neglected to forward the notices, he said he takes full responsibility for the errors. <\/p>\n
McGeever said most of the notices were inadvertently placed back in the case files and never sent to Harrisburg. <\/p>\n
He said they were supposed to be entered into the system and then sent via computer to PennDOT in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n
Of the 20,000 notices that never made it to PennDOT, McGeever suspects only about 2,000 were notices related to actual license suspensions. <\/p>\n
Earle also spoke with attorney Shawn Stevenson, who represents about 60 drivers who received suspension notices for old cases that were thought over and done with. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a guy that bought a car Oct. 17th, and got his notice on October 20th, literally bought a car and has an installment agreement. What\u2019s he supposed to do? And that conviction is ten years old,\u201d said Stevenson. <\/p>\n
Stevenson told Earle that most drivers are winning on appeal, but that\u2019s only after hiring an attorney and paying the $145.00 non-refundable filing fee to fight the case. <\/p>\n
And Stevenson said in some cases the damage is already done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have two clients that work in high security clearance jobs, and even though I filed an appeal, which delays the action imposed by PennDOT, pending a hearing, the fact that it was on their driving record, they\u2019ve already lost their clearance. Now, they may get their job back or they may not, but the bottom line is the consequences are devastating,\u201d said Stevenson, who lobbied for the county to drop the filing fee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do apologize to folks that may have a hardship with this, but again, we put the necessary protocols in place to avoid something like this ever transpiring in the future,\u201d said McGeever. <\/p>\n
McGeever said some of the employees involved are no longer in the department. <\/p>\n
He took over as Acting Director in 2016, but he has been with the county for three decades. <\/p>\n
In addition to a letter from PennDOT, Allegheny County is also sending a letter advising drivers of the delay and the appeal process.<\/p>\n
The county began sending out the first batch of letters back in April, after discovering the problem. <\/p>\n
The second batch of letters went out in October. <\/p>\n
They have completed sending out about 70% of the letters. <\/p>\n
McGeever said he discovered the issue during an internal audit earlier this year. <\/p>\n
Earle asked McGeever if any employees faced disciplinary action due to the mishandling of the notices, but he said he couldn\u2019t comment on personnel issues. <\/p>\n
11 Investigates reached out to PennDOT for comment. They told us:<\/p>\n
\u201cPennDOT is aware that some convictions were not reported in a timely manner by the office of the Allegheny County clerk of courts under 75 Pa.C.S., sec. 6323. The County has addressed the issue and PennDOT is working with the County to process these convictions, as is required under the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen PennDOT receives notice of a criminal conviction that triggers assessment of a civil penalty, the Vehicle Code requires assessment of a set statutory civil penalty.\u00a0 There is no \u201cexpiration date\u201d on convictions or discretion that PennDOT can exercise here, or in past instances where the reporting of convictions reported to PennDOT is delayed.\u00a0 PennDOT processes reported convictions when received as is required by law and will continue to do so, as convictions are submitted.”<\/p>\n
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