Fighting Corruption in the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association

The Fairness Center has represented corrections officers in multiple cases against the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA) seeking to bring financial accountability and transparency to the union, to defend corrections officers’ First Amendment rights, and to enforce the PSCOA’s duty to fairly represent both members and nonmembers.

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.

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.

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

Yedlosky v. PSCOA is closed.

Documents

• Yedlosky v. PSCOA: Fourth Amended Complaint – August 7, 2020
• Yedlosky v. PSCOA: Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment – February 28, 2023
• Yedlosky v. PSCOA: Order and Opinion – June 27, 2023
• News Release – August 10, 2023

August 14, 2023: “Five former leaders of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association are facing multiple theft charges, accused of improperly using a union credit card.”

August 10, 2023: “Five former leaders of Pennsylvania’s corrections officers’ union have been charged with theft after police say they stole union funds by using credit cards for personal expenses and conspiring to conceal their actions.”

August 10, 2023: “Investigators said the five former union leaders used union credit cards – issued to them for official business purposes only – to make personal expenditures, submitted intentionally vague expense reports, and attempted to block other union leaders and members from inquiring further.”

August 11, 2023: “Five former leaders of the Pennsylvania corrections officers’ union have been charged with theft after investigators say they used union funds to pay for personal expenses and hid the transactions.”

February 27, 2020: “Peroni’s charges come on the heels of a civil lawsuit that was filed in late January by The Fairness Center on behalf of three SCI Huntingdon corrections officers, Cory Yedlosky, William Weyandt and Chris Taylor, who asserted the state corrections officers union “breached their duty of fair representation” to them and their colleagues by failing to enforce the union’s rules regarding the handling of union funds.”

January 29, 2020: “Three Pennsylvania corrections officers are suing their union over allegations that tens of thousands of dollars in union funds were misspent by officials…The three workers – Cory Yedlosky, William Weyandt and Chris Taylor – allege in the lawsuit that the former treasurer of the State Correctional Institution-Huntingdon Local of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association wrote himself and the local’s secretary checks amounting to about $20,000 that were not approved expenses.”