New errors discovered in Westmoreland Register of Wills Office lead to personnel changes

The ongoing review of records in the embattled Westmoreland County Register of Wills Office has unearthed more incomplete adoption files, leading to personnel changes enacted this week by the conservator appointed to oversee the office.

According to court documents filed Thursday, conservator Jim Antoniono said staff found multiple cases of adoption records that were incorrectly docketed and with missing information.

Antoniono did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Officials said court staff was reassigned this week to help Register of Wills Office employees complete an inventory of all adoption records to determine the scope of errors. That assessment is ongoing.

Common Pleas Judge Harry Smail Jr. will conduct a hearing Tuesday to hear testimony about the latest issues in the office that oversees the adoptions, guardianships, wills, estates and marriage licenses.

Since the start of June, Antoniono has served as de facto head of the county row office in place of Republican Sherry Magretti Hamilton, who was stripped of her authority to run the office this year after judges found her in contempt of court. They said she violated two court orders designed to correct filing deficiencies that led to backlogs and delays in the processing of records.

Hamilton, who was elected to her third term in office in November, continues to draw her nearly $90,000 annual salary. She agreed last week to resign as the elected register at year’s end and pay a $10,000 fine in return for having her criminal contempt conviction be converted to a civil penalty, a move that avoided a potential jail sentence.

Testimony previously revealed that, under Hamilton’s watch, the office at the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg had routinely been late to process adoption certificates and appeals involving wills and estates. The backlogs and errors in some cases dated to 2019. Officials in court proceedings earlier this year maintained the backlogs had largely been corrected.

Rona Beluschok, who served as Hamilton’s chief deputy since 2016, was removed from her duties this week, according to officials. Beluschok was hired in 2013.

During testimony at Hamilton’s contempt of court hearing this spring, Beluschok said she was primarily in charge of overseeing adoption records and was the administrator of most Register of Wills Office functions during Hamilton’s repeated absences from work.

Antoniono on Tuesday fired Register of Wills Office Solicitor Sean Logue, according to county Controller Jeffrey Balzer. Logue, the chairman of the Washington County Republican Committee, was hired in May by Hamilton as the office’s part-time attorney after she fired longtime Solicitor Michael Nestico.