20 ARRESTS EYED IN JAIL PROBE

State Investigation In Westmoreland Co.

Associated Press

GREENSBURG, Pa. - Attorney General Mike Fisher yesterday released a grand
jury's report on security at the Westmoreland County Jail following
allegations an inmate ran a drug ring from his cell.

Fisher also said state police expected to arrest 20 people believed to be
associates of Ronald Whethers, who was charged in June with running the
drug operation via a cellular phone. The device allegedly was smuggled into
the jail for him by a guard.

Whethers - who pleaded no contest to a third-degree homicide charge in
October and was already serving life on federal drug, racketeering and
money laundering charges - has been transferred to a state prison.

A former prison guard, Anthony Shawley, of Derry, has been charged with
supplying Whethers with drugs and other contraband, Fisher said. Shawley
had already been charged with smuggling a cellular telephone to Whethers.

Another former guard at the Westmoreland County Jail, Arthur Maljan, of
West Newton, was charged with receiving cocaine from Whethers, Fisher said.

The grand jury made 14 recommendations for improving security at the jail.
The suggestions include more thorough searches of employees and visitors,
installing more video cameras in the jail parking lot, and beginning drug
testing for inmates and guards.

It also suggesting an officer be hired to investigate allegations of inmate
and employee misconduct at the jail. Finally, it said state laws should be
rewritten to include cell phones and pagers as jail contraband.

Warden Kurt Scalzott said he has already been working to make some reforms.

Tom Ceraso, a county commissioner and chairman of the prison board, said he
had to review the findings but that security must be tightened at the jail.

"There are some issues that have to be dealt with," he said.

Fisher said the grand jury heard testimony that prisoners in the jail
smoked marijuana and crack cocaine and that the jail's medical department
served as a social club for Whethers, who got preferential treatment by
some at the facility.

One inmate told the jury Whethers was "like a little warden," Fisher said.

The attorney general said the grand jury accused Maljan of assisting
Whethers in hiding the cell phone and that Whethers' daughter, Rachael,
arranged to have a tennis ball containing cocaine delivered to the guard's
truck.