Aborted letter to Westmoreland DA, seeking outcome of raid on Ligonier Valley police station, angers officers

A proposed letter from the Ligonier Valley Police Commission to Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli is being called a “slap in the face” to the officers on the force.

The police commission this week discussed sending the letter to ask whether local criminal charges are planned stemming from a 2023 raid by federal and state officials at the police station.

Ultimately, the board decided not to send the letter, but the aborted missive generated plenty of negative response — from Ligonier Valley police officers and audience members — at this week’s commission meeting.

Although no criminal charges have been filed by state police and U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents, police commission solicitor Mark Sorice has said the raid focused solely on former police Chief John Berger — including seizure of Berger’s personal phone and police vehicle.

Berger was fired as chief by the commission on May 9, 2023, five days after the raid. At the time, Sorice said Berger was “not able to continue in that particular capacity with this cloud hanging over him.”

Ligonier Valley police Sgt. James Friscarella said Tuesday that the letter, proposed by police commissioner and Ligonier Township Supervisor Dan Resenic, is a “slap in the face” of the 12 officers on the force.

Friscarella said it implies they are suspected of wrongdoing.

Resenic said that wasn’t his intent.

The proposed letter to Ziccarelli, read aloud by Sorice at the commission meeting, referred to a grand jury that was announced by the district attorney in fall 2023 and convened in February 2024. The letter stated that unverified rumors “suggest that one or more members of the Ligonier Valley Police Department have been called as witnesses or have been interviewed by your staff.”

The letter requested Ziccarelli “share with the public whatever information can be released about any ongoing concerns with the Ligonier Valley Police Department or its personnel.”

“If the investigation conducted after the May 2023 search warrant is complete, and there will be no further action taken by your office or the grand jury related to the Ligonier Valley Police Department, please find a way of stating that fact,” the letter read.

The grand jury was convened with the intent to hear evidence in unsolved homicides and major crimes in Westmoreland County.

At that time, Ziccarelli and other court officials indicated they could not comment further, citing the confidentiality and secrecy requirements surrounding the creation and operation of the grand jury.

Ongoing grand jury testimony and other logistics around the process are not permitted to be made public, according to court officials.

That remains the case this week, according to Melanie Jones, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office. Ligonier Valley police Chief Mike Matrunics, state police and Homeland Security did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

“Two and a half years it’s been,” Friscarella said, referring to the 2023 raid. “If any one of my officers were involved in any sort of impropriety, do you think the District Attorney’s Office would allow us to be on the road?

“That letter is so accusatory and a slap in every one of my guys’ faces. Unbelievable.”

Resenic said that, because there has been no word about any findings resulting from the raid, “It’s placed a tremendous cloud over top of this department and this community.”

Sorice suggested the commissioner could send the letter to Ziccarelli on his own volition but should not present it as coming from the entire commission. Resenic said he would not send it individually.

“The 12 officers who comprise the department, none of them have been under investigation. So how relevant this is, is under question,” Sorice said of the proposed letter. “There is nothing hiding in the past that will affect this department and the officers who currently inhabit it.”

Sorice suggested the police commission should focus on present and future concerns, including a proposal to build a police station separate from the rooms the department occupies at the Ligonier Township Municipal Building.

Former police commissioner Scott Gongaware, who was in the audience at this week’s board meeting, said he also had been frustrated that there was no word on findings from the raid.

But he said the proposed letter “is saying the commissioners are concerned there could be a problem within our police force. … The majority of the tone of this letter is just horrible.”

Berger separately has been accused of sexually assaulting a patient in April 2024 while working at an addiction treatment facility in Donegal Township.

Berger, now 53, was charged with seven counts including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and two charges of institutional sexual assault.

His attorney, Dan Joseph, this week confirmed his previous statement that Berger has maintained his innocence. Joseph contends that Berger’s relationship with the patient was consensual.

At a Nov. 12 court proceeding, Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio rejected a defense motion to dismiss two sexual assault counts based on an argument that the facility where the alleged assault took place was not a licensed mental health treatment center.

Consent is not a defense for institutional sexual assault counts, prosecutors claim.

Berger is awaiting trial on the charges. He remains free on bond.