A top agent under state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane has been paid more than $70,000 over the past six months to sit at home.
Kevin Wevodau, Moscow, Pennsylvania, said he wants to return to work, but Kane banished him from the office because she believes he’s a “mole” working with authorities to monitor her.
The accusations are contained in a Whistleblower’s lawsuit Wevodau filed last week in Commonwealth Court that alleges he’s been retaliated against for testifying before a grand jury that investigated if Kane leaked confidential information from a 2009 grand jury probe to a newspaper.
Wevodau, special agent in charge of the bureau of criminal investigations, has been out of the office since he said Kane threatened him during a meeting at her home on June 19. The first three months he was on voluntary medical leave. He tried to return in October, but Kane refused and instead placed him on paid administrative leave, the suit said.
Wevodau’s annual salary is $140,421, which equates to $11,701.75 per month. That means he’s been paid $70,210.50 as of the end of March to stay home.
Chuck Ardo, spokesman for Kane, said he could not comment on why Wevodau was placed on administrative leave or when he might return to work. He also declined comment on the lawsuit.
Wevodau, a former FBI agent, was hired in January 2013. Friction between him and Kane first developed in March 2014, when she shut down an investigation of Philadelphia legislators accused of taking bribes, the suit said.
Kane came under fire for her decision to halt the probe. Attempting to defend her decision, she publicly alleged Wevodau had taken notes and signed an affidavit that alleged the probe was tainted by racism. Wevodau denies he made that claim and wrote a memo to her in April 2014 advising her that her statements were untrue.
Soon after, a grand jury was empaneled to investigate whether Kane leaked information from a 2009 grand jury probe of a Philadelphia man. Based on the panel’s findings, Kane was charged in August 2015 with perjury and several other offenses. The trial in that case is scheduled to begin Aug. 8 in Montgomery County.
Wevodau’s lawsuit said he testified before the grand jury in December 2014. He claims Kane suspected he cooperated with prosecutors, which led a member of her inner circle to interrogate him about the matter.
Tension between Wevodau and Kane came to a head at the June 2015 meeting. Kane summoned Wevodau to her home after hours. She told him he was a “cancer” to the office and accused him of leaking information to the media. Kane pressured him to resign, telling him he would be “ruined” and might “lose his family” if he didn’t.
Wevodau refused to resign. Three days after the meeting, he sought and was granted 12 weeks of medical leave. When he attempted to return to work in October, he was advised he first had to undergo a fitness-for-duty evaluation. He has offered to undergo the evaluation, but Kane’s office has refused to schedule it.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Christine Burke, Bensalem, seeks damages under Pennsylvania’s Whistleblower’s law and for violations of the federal Family Medical Leave Act. It asked the court to restore Wevodau to his position and compensate him for pay increases, bonuses and other benefits he would be eligible to receive if he were working.