DA charges former Traffic Judge Tynes with corruption

District Attorney Seth Williams announced today that former Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Thomasine Tynes has been charged with criminal conspiracy, bribery and related crimes.

DA Seth Williams holds up a Tiffany bracelet that Tynes allegedly received from a lobbyist.
Jim Saksa

District Attorney Seth Williams announced today that former Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Thomasine Tynes has been charged with criminal conspiracy, bribery and related crimes. Williams said the charges against Tynes were the "first — but not the last" results stemming from an investigation his office assumed from state Attorney General Kathleen Kane this summer.

Calling it a "press-and-play prosecution," Williams described audio and video tapes that allegedly show Tynes accepting a $2,000 Tiffany charm bracelet from an unnamed confidential informant — widely believed to be disgraced lobbyist Tyron B. Ali — in exchange for helping him secure a lucrative government contract.

According to Williams, the tapes recorded Ali saying, "We're not going to the park, right? We're going to the bank." And the judge allegedly responded, "Dealing with the greens."

After Ali gave Judge Tynes the bracelet, the two allegedly toasted to "making money."

The tapes also allegedly capture Tynes agreeing to help Ali's clients with Traffic Court problems, saying "Just call me, I'll deal with them." Tynes was recently acquitted of ticket fixing in an unrelated federal case.

Tynes surrendered to state police this morning, Williams said at a press conference at his Center City office.

As the Inquirer first reported in March, Kane shut down the sting, despite finding evidence of corruption against Tynes and four Philadelphia area state representatives. The sting also allegedly captured State Rep. Louise Bishop accepting $1,500, State Rep. Ronald Waters accepting multiple payments totaling $7,650, State Rep. Vanessa Brown taking $4,000, and State Rep. Michelle Brownlee accepting $3,500.

At the time, Kane called the investigation poorly managed and tainted by racism. Kane has also said that Ali would be a terrible witness: Ali only agreed to serve as a confidential informant after being arrested in a $430,000 fraud case. But Williams stated repeatedly today that the case against Tynes would rely on videotaped and audio-recorded evidence.

Williams implied that charges against others may be forthcoming, but declined to give any details, citing an ongoing investigation.

The grand jury presentment states that Ali — described as a confidential informant — "ultimately recorded 113 separate meetings or conversations with various Pennsylvania state legislators, public officials and other related individuals."

Williams called on "others who have intimate knowledge of these events" to step up before "the investigation goes forward without their information."

When news that Kane had dropped the probe became public, Williams publicly lambasted the state attorney general for her decision, a rare intra-party rebuke of a fellow prosecutor. Kane came into office promising to be apolitical, running against her primary opponent's perceived ambitions for higher office, but her decision to shut down the sting — which, so far, has only exposed fellow Democrats — hasn't been the only move that appears to be politically motivated.

More recently, Kane has come under criticism for refusing to release pornographic emails found on state computers. Kane eventually released some emails, but has been criticized for attempting to target Republicans, while protecting Democrats. The Inquirer reported recently that her real target was Frank Fina, who oversaw the dropped sting investigation while at the Attorney General's office. Fina now works for Williams in the District Attorney's office.

Williams peppered the press conference with thinly veiled barbs at Kane. "It's important to remember where we started," said Williams, "with evidence of widespread, yet supposedly not prosecutable political corruption."

Williams hinted that Kane's office has been less than cooperative, saying, "It took a while, but eventually my office received some of the materials from the investigative file," and later lamented the "disappointing, frustrating delays."

Earlier, Williams said "whether by design or otherwise" a "great deal" had happened to distract the public from the case. As he ended the press conference, Williams held up the bracelet Tynes is accused of receiving for the news cameras one final time, before he had to "return it to Attorney General Kathleen Kane."