ST. MARY’S TODAY

TOWSON --- Maryland State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli died May 14^th after serving since 1977 as the only state prosecutor Maryland has had since the General Assembly established the office.
Montanarelli had beaten back an onset of cancer five years ago and continued to work a vigorous schedule including the infamous "Where’s the Loot" scandal which has seared the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department over the last two years.
Appointed State Prosecutor by Maryland Governor Harry Hughes, Montanarelli served out his first six year term and was reappointed each time his term ended by Governors William Donald Schaefer and Parris Glendening.

His replacement will now be appointed by Governor Robert Ehrlich.

Montanarelli told ST. MARY’S TODAY that he never was able to get the legislature to properly fund his office so it could weed through election year allegations made by political adversaries against each other around the state and allow him to concentrate on legitimate instances of illegal actions on the part of those who hold elected and appointive office.

Montanarelli oversaw an investigation in 1985 and 1986 which ended in St. Mary’s County Commissioner President George Aud pleading guilty to income tax evasion and winning the Democratic Primary over John William Quade and Jack Witten even though he was still in jail on election day.
Aud lost the general election that year to Joseph O’Dell, the county’s finance officer who had filed as a Republican.

Montanarelli also led at least a half dozen other investigations in St. Mary’s County including one into Republican County Commissioner President Karl "Buddy" Marx Loffler receiving a loan from a developer the day after the county bought the old St. Mary’s Academy property from the developer. Loffler announced he was not running for re-election and the investigation ended.
Calvert County Sheriff Vonzell Ward came under investigation by Montanarelli in 2000 and before any charges were placed against Ward, he resigned from the office had been elected to in 1994 and 1998. Ward had been involved in allegations that he had harassed a former girlfriend of one of his deputies and had abused his powers in office.

In 2002, after Montanarelli had learned from reports in ST. MARY’S TODAY that a tractor-trailer load of evidence had disappeared from the secure property storage of the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department, he began an investigation on his own initiative. Soon thereafter, St. Mary’s Sheriff Richard Voorhaar busted his Assistant Sheriff, Capt. Steven Doolan, back in rank and put him on administrative leave, when Doolan failed to cooperate with an investigation begun by Voorhaar.
A one-year probe into the matter by Montanarelli’s investigators resulted in a written report on the matter issued to St. Mary’s Sheriff David Zylak and St. Mary’s States Attorney Richard Fritz.
Montanarelli told ST. MARY’S TODAY that his report to the two local elected officials "is the beginning, not the end" of the matter and said that his task was completed.
Doolan’s wife was Fritz’s campaign treasurer and Fritz never recused himself from following up on the Montanarelli report.

Zylak opened his own probe into actions of Doolan and has charged Doolan administratively. A police trial board was supposed to have taken place last month but there has been no announcement by Zylak as to whether or not it ever took place. Zylak had said he wanted it to be open to the public, a move opposed by the Fraternal Order of Police.
Montanarelli opened an investigation into the actions of Drift Inn owner Leonard Copsey in which it was alleged that Copsey had given cash donations to the States Attorney campaign of Joseph A. Mattingly Jr. in 1998 in return for criminal charges being dropped against a relative. Copsey denied he had given the donations for that purpose and no connection was found to the dropped charges by Montanarelli.

Montanarelli told ST. MARY’S TODAY that he found actions taken by States Attorney Walter B. Dorsey in the Copsey relative’s case to be above board and legal.

Copsey did plead guilty to violating campaign finance laws, which he said was unintentional on his part. It had long been traditional in local politics for a family to get together and make a donation to a certain candidate in an election with family members chipping in on the total donation instead of making individual contributions. Newer campaign laws require that each person be listed seperately and that was the violation to which Copsey pleaded guilty.

Montanarelli was responsible for a number of elected officials dropping from view when he opened investigations into their activities and he was criticized by public interest groups and citizen watchdogs as not being tough enough. He countered that his budget was set by the General Assembly and his duties were established by statute that he was obliged to follow.

Montanarelli could be requested by the Governor, the Assembly or state’s attorney’s in each county to open a probe or he could do so himself if he met certain criteria.

He led a state police probe into the actions of Wendell Ford, who was challenging the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department for failing to abide by an order of District Court Judge John Slade to return property seized from him. That state police probe resulted in a night time raid of Ford’s home and state police officers handcuffing his 9-year-old daughter after they dragged her out of bed at 3 am.