Deal offers expunging of case for ex-worker

Her case is expected to be expunged.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Former Union Township secretary-treasurer Sally Byler will resolve charges that she tampered with township computers with a deal that includes restitution and probation.

Byler waived her right to a preliminary hearing Thursday in Lawrence County Central Court. Her case was sent to the county common pleas court with the expectation that she will accept an Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition.

Under the ARD, she will be subject to nonreporting probation and will pay restitiution with a $1,000 cap. After a successful probation, her case will be expunged.

The deal is not an admission of guilt, said her attorney Michael Murphy, of Pittsburgh.

“Any attempt to get her to plead guilty was categorically refused,” he said.

“It is a defensible case,” Murphy said. But because the deal offers a complete expungement, he said, “Why fight it?”

Byler, 62, had been charged in October with unlawful use of a computer, computer trespass, tampering with public records or information, and disruption of services.

State police in New Castle brought the charges after investigating. Police alleged that she intentionally destroyed 207 files and programs in the township’s computers. State police said she did so after last January’s reorganizational meeting of the township supervisors, in which she was not retained for her position.

Police alleged that she destroyed the files while she was retrieving her personal belongings after the meeting.