The state’s Judicial Conduct Board has filed additional misconduct charges against a Bradford County district judge who had already been suspended without pay.
Jonathan M. Wilcox was notified on Monday that the board’s counsel will submit the case in support of the allegations to the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.
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The court has already heard allegations in a 25-count complaint filed on October 10 against Wilcox, who was suspended in November. The judge’s office is in Troy.
The new charges stem from a letter Wilcox sent on his judicial letterhead to county president Judge Maureen Beirne in August 2024, requesting that she grant his clerk’s Protection from Abuse Act (PFA) petition.
The letter requested that the judge impose a protection-from-abuse order owing to the continued stalking, harassment, and terrorization of his clerk.
The district attorney’s office reported the matter to the state attorney general, who informed Wilcox on November 20 that he was under formal investigation.
He is accused of breaking judicial administration standards by failing to notify the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court within five days of being the subject of a state criminal investigation.
He is also accused of violating the rules governing magisterial district judges’ conduct, which state that they must always act in a way that promotes public trust in the judiciary’s independence, integrity, and impartiality, and avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.
According to the complaint, Wilcox violated the regulation that states a district judge must not use the prestige of his office to enhance his or others’ personal or economic interests by sending a letter to Beirne on judicial letterhead.
The alleged conduct was so excessive that it brought the judicial office into disrepute, resulting in a violation of the state constitution, the board claims.
In the October case, Wilcox is accused of illegal behavior in a domestic matter and another in which he sentenced a female to prison for failing to pay fines before evaluating whether she could.
The domestic case comprised summary harassment charges filed by a state trooper against a woman and her boyfriend on December 1, 2024.
Wilcox, a district judge since 2000, is accused of having developed a personal relationship with the woman. He dropped the charge against the boyfriend without alerting the trooper and directed his staff to destroy both of their case files.
The board’s complaint says that ordering the deletion of files obstructed the administration of law.
In the other case, Wilcox sentenced a female to 151 days in jail beginning November 4, 2022, for failing to pay fines for 14 traffic infractions, and issued a second commitment for the same thing on March 6 for 25 days.
Wilcox is accused of failing to hold the required hearings in both cases to evaluate the woman’s ability to pay the fines.
Wilcox, a district judge since 2000, will have the opportunity to respond to the charges, inspect the evidence supporting the claims, and face a public trial before the Court of Judicial Discipline.
If the court finds that any of the accusations have been established by clear and compelling evidence, it will hold a hearing to determine what sanctions, if any, should be applied.
Sanctions may include censure, suspension, fines, or removal from office.
