Former PA State Parole Officer Arrested for Extorting Money from Parolees
2 min readHARRISBURG – A former parole officer with the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole was arrested on public corruption charges for allegedly extorting money from parolees.
Attorney General Linda Kelly identified the defendant as Kenneth Dupree, 46, 4429 Benner St., Philadelphia. Dupree worked at the Northeast Division Office of Probation and Parole.
Evidence and testimony regarding the alleged activity was presented by the Attorney General?s Public Corruption Unit to a statewide investigating grand jury, which recommended the criminal charges being filed.
According to the grand jury, Dupree used his position and power as a parole agent to engage in a systematic pattern of grossly inappropriate and illegal conduct with state parolees.
The grand jury found that Dupree solicited and accepted cash bribes from parolees in exchange for various considerations including, overlooking positive drug screens, failing to administer drug tests and allowing parolees to remain on the street when they should have been incarcerated following parole violations.
According to the grand jury, in one instance Dupree allegedly attempted to extort three slabs of Corian countertops, valued at approximately $10,000 each, from a parolee who worked at countertop store.
The grand jury also found that Dupree used threats of incarceration as an additional means to extort and intimidate his parolees into paying him money.
“Every day Pennsylvanians put their faith and trust into our parole officers, assuming they are going to do everything in their power to supervise serious and often violent offenders,” Kelly said. “Mr. Dupree?s actions are a breach of that trust.”
Dupree is charged with two counts of bribery, two counts of official oppression and two counts of obstructing the Administration of Law or other Governmental Function.
He will be prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General William Davis of the Attorney General?s Criminal Prosecutions Section.
(A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty.)
