Fighting Corruption in the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association

Exposing Financial Corruption within the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association 

In Huntingdon, Pennsylvania corrections officers Chris Taylor and Cory Yedlosky suspected that union officials at PSCOA mishandled union funds. Their own audit of the union’s finances confirmed their suspicions: local officials had mishandled thousands of dollars of union members’ dues.

Concerned, Cory, Chris, and a colleague brought their findings to Jason Bloom, then-president of the statewide PSCOA union, but he “blew off” the audit and “put [it] in a drawer to collect dust.” Cory and Chris resigned from the PSCOA in disgust, but they refused to give up on their goal of holding their union accountable.

Their persistence would eventually reveal that union officials had spent members’ money on NFL tickets, a $12,000 Rolex watch, and outings at PGA Tour-level golf courses.

(Chris Taylor. Photo credit: The Fairness Center.)

Lawsuit Forced Accountability in the PSCOA

In 2020, the Fairness Center filed the complaint in the lawsuit, Yedlosky v. PSCOA, on the officers’ behalf to force union officials to address the officers’ concerns. A month later, state police arrested local union treasurer Bryan Peroni on felony theft and forgery charges for writing checks to himself amounting to nearly $30,000. Peroni pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced.

After our client’s lawsuit, PSCOA officials tightened oversight of their finances, revealing even bigger problems and even more mishandled funds. In July 2023, state police charged former PSCOA President Jason Bloom with six felony counts of theft for using the union’s credit card for personal expenses. Bloom wasn’t the only one; four other former PSCOA officers, including former presidents Roy Pinto and Larry Blackwell, were also charged with theft.

As Chris and Cory wrote in a newspaper commentary:

According to PSCOA board meeting minutes reproduced in court filings, a former state union treasurer said credit card expenses were “killing” the union and that “half of the stuff” purchased on union credit cards, as much as $200,000, was unverified due to lack of receipts. Another union official admitted that, “(S)ince the inception of PSCOA, there was talk of frivolous spending and outright theft.”

Including the arrest of former PSCOA Local SCI—Huntingdon treasurer Bryan Peroni back in 2019, mere weeks after our clients’ lawsuit was filed, six PSCOA officials have been held accountable for theft.

(Cory Yedlosky. Photo credit: The Fairness Center.)

Litigation to Defend Corrections Officers’ Rights

Our clients sought a refund of their dues and a judgment that the union breached its contract and violated its fiduciary duty.

Though the Court did not rule in their favor, Chris’s and Cory’s litigation made enormous progress towards their goal of bringing transparency and accountability to the PSCOA. Since our clients’ lawsuit, the union instituted trainings for local treasurers, reduced union membership dues, and tightened credit card oversight.

“Too often, power breeds corruption. We want our litigation to help ensure that PSCOA officials are looking out not for themselves, but for the men and women who put themselves at risk every day in the state’s prisons.” – Chris Taylor and Cory Yedlosky

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