Court Clerk Bribery Investigation: Ex-PBC clerk took favors from a vendor, boosted his business

Lucrative business for unscrupulous, pitiless government contractors in the debt collection business making oodles of money from low-income debtors, aided by Republican legislators and court clerks.   Corrupt?  Collection agencies trade campaign contributions for 25-40% fees, on top of fines, fees, penalties and costs sent out for collection by most Florida Clerks of Courts. 

Florida law was amended at the behest of lobbyists to specify a range of fee percentages -- 25% to 40% on top of funds collected, paid by the poor debtor. Other directed clerks have lobbied for 40%.  

Ambitious apparatchik HUNTER SINCLAIR CONRAD -- erstwhile St. Johns County Clerk of Courts and Comptroller and current County Administrator -- allegedly took $8000 in campaign congtributions intended as bribes by PENN CREDIT and DONALD DONAGHER, JR.

While the St. Augustine Record headline online February 21, 2021 referred to St. Johns County Clerk, the Record has avoided and evaded the issue, as have local and state government offices.

Florida CFO James Petronis is investigating Florida Clerk offices' debt collection deals. 

Federal criminal investigation and prosecution is continuing.

From St. Augustine Record:

Post Investigation: Ex-PBC clerk took favors from a vendor, boosted his business

Andrew Marra

Palm Beach Post/

February 21, 2021

Sharon Bock, Palm Beach Beach County Clerk and Comptroller, during the Palm Beach County Commission meeting in West Palm Beach Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020.  

In the years before his indictment on federal bribery charges, debt-collection magnate Donald Donagher showered Florida’s clerks of court with money and attention in a push to expand his business.

But one public official drew particularly attentive treatment: longtime Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock.

Donagher bankrolled Bock’s political campaigns, invited her to dinners and special events, chauffeured her on his private helicopter – even helped her find a diamond for her engagement ring, a Palm Beach Post investigation found. 

Bock's office, meanwhile, gave his collection agency hundreds of thousands of dollars in business each year.

She used her standing among the state’s clerks of court to help his company, Penn Credit, win new contracts in other counties.

And she boasted of wielding her influence to preserve his ability to charge Floridians the maximum collection fees permitted by law, correspondences obtained by The Post show.

Federal prosecutors charged Donagher in 2019 with attempting to bribe clerks of court in Orange, Brevard and St. Johns counties, as well as Chicago.

The U.S. attorney in Chicago alleges the part-time Palm Beach Gardens resident “corruptly” used campaign contributions, charitable donations and even a strip-club outing “for the purpose of seeking favorable treatment for Penn Credit in the award, allocation and retention of debt collection work.”

Donagher has denied any wrongdoing, and the indictment did not accuse him of criminal actin Palm Beach County.

But while some public officials distanced themselves from Donagher’s largesse, Bock embraced it.

She solicited a ride to Palm Beach County on his helicopter, asked him to donate to a relative’s political campaign and thanked him effusively for dinners and donations, text message records show.

And her work advanced his interests.

Penn Credit’s days of working for the county clerk’s office are drawing to a close. Bock’s 16-year tenure as clerk ended last month. The county’s new clerk, Joe Abruzzo, has canceled the company’s contract, joining a handful of counties that did so after the 2019 indictment.

Donald Donagher, Penn Credit's founder and former chief executive, was indicted in 2019 on federal corruption charges.

As Donagher’s case awaits trial in Chicago federal court, Florida’s chief financial officer announced last month an audit of Penn Credit’s business dealings with state clerks and said he is weighing whether to revoke the company’s license.

But for years before his indictment, Penn Credit’s business grew and thrived in Florida. Records obtained by The Post through a public records request reveal he did so with a regular helping hand from Bock.

The former clerk declined interview requests, but in a written statement she dismissed questions raised by her correspondences with Donagher as “innuendos” based on “carefully selected statements.”

“The Post’s reporting is designed to portray me as having gained personally from the Clerk’s offices long relationship with Penn Credit Corporation,” she said. “This selected reporting is malicious and designed to mislead, made in bad faith and does not stand up against the facts.”

“While Clerk,” she added, “I was never in a position to influence or control any of the debt collections company’s activities.”

Donagher’s attorney similarly disputed any impropriety, saying none of his interactions with Bock ran afoul of the law.

“Mr. Donagher did not violate any Florida ethics laws in connection with his dealings with Ms. Bock or any other government official in the state,” attorney Theodore Poulos said in a statement. “(Penn Credit) runs its business ethically and professionally in Florida and elsewhere, and strongly denies any allegation to the contrary.” 

After collection fees increased, donations flowed

Donagher, who founded Penn Credit in Harrisburg, Pa., in the 1980s, began doing business with the clerk’s office in 2007, two years into Bock’s first term.

The state Legislature had required county clerks the previous year to hire debt-collection agencies to chase down unpaid court fees.

After hiring Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, a large Texas-based debt collection company, Bock said she took on Penn Credit in addition, based on a recommendation from the county government, which had also used its services.

Throughout Bock’s 16-year tenure, Penn Credit and Linebarger shared the office’s collections work through exclusive contracts.

Collection agencies are not directly paid by clerk’s offices. Instead, they profit by charging extra fees to residents with overdue fines, fees and court costs.

It’s an arrangement that has received increased scrutiny in recent years amid a focus on the systemic forces that push people into debt and toward crimes such as driving with a suspended license. More than 1.5 million driver's licenses are suspended in Florida each year, most of them because of unpaid court fines.

The clerk’s office’s contracts with Penn Credit and Linebarger were never subject to a competitive bidding process, clerk’s officials said. As a result, other companies never had a chance to vie for the business, and Bock never sought out another outfit that would charge lower fees.

Instead, Bock raised them.

In 2010, after a change in state law allowed higher collection fees, records show that Bock quietly amended Penn Credit’s contract to raise the company’s fees from 25% to 40%, the new legal maximum.

Palm Beach County Clerk Sharon Bock meets with members of the Palm Beach Post Editorial Board Monday, July 6, 2015, to discuss her office's respective budget issues. Bock has said she'll have to make $2.6 million in cuts in the fourth quarter, and likely will have to cut hours and furlough staff.

The change did not mean extra costs for Bock’s office. Instead, it meant a spike in the fees residents would pay to get out from under state-imposed debt.

Over the decade to follow, Penn Credit earned $3.5 million in Palm Beach County from clerk’s office collection fees, records show.

Bock was hardly the only clerk to raise fees. Officials say many did so across Florida after the legislative change.

After Bock raised Penn Credit’s rates, the company’s interest in her campaign prospects increased, too.

Donagher was known in Pennsylvania for his 24-karat gold business cards and his passion for piloting his two helicopters. During Christmas season, he would don a Santa costume and fly across Florida delivering charitable donations to nonprofits in counties where he did business.

Donagher and his associates contributed at least $4,500 to Bock’s reelection campaign in 2008. When she ran again two years after raising Penn Credit’s fees, the spigot opened.

In 2012, Penn Credit, Donagher and relatives and associates of his more than doubled their offering, contributing at least $10,000 to her campaign, records show. Their contributions amounted to 15% of the total her campaign raised that year.

Four years later, Donagher and his associates again ponied up at least $10,000. This time, it amounted to more than a third of her campaign coffers.

'Singing ur praises'

The two first met at one of the Florida clerks’ annual conferences, where vendors and prospective vendors often host elected officials at sponsored dinner events, Donagher’s attorney said.

By 2015, records show they had become close friends and confidantes.

Text messages between the two, recorded on Bock’s government-issued cell phone and obtained by The Post through a public records request, reveal that Donagher routinely sought her assistance, and that she sought his.

In April 2015, Donagher learned that Penn Credit had lost a bid for a collections contract in Monroe County. Frustrated, he asked Bock to intervene.

“What is going on?” he wrote to her. “You were (the Monroe clerk’s) mentor and praised us, Phil said the clerk loves us. I'm perplexed. Can you find out what's going on?”

The Post found no records indicating that Bock intervened. The Monroe clerk never hired Penn Credit, records show.

But Bock lobbied other clerks on Donagher's behalf.

In June 2016, she reported that she had pushed the clerk in Franklin County to choose him over Linebarger, the rival company that had beat out Penn Credit in Monroe.

“I told her u over Linebarger,” Bock wrote. “Has she called??”

Donagher said yes – the contract was a done deal. Not only that, he said, Franklin County’s clerk had agreed to let him charge Franklin residents a 40% collection fee, the legal maximum.

“She is doing 40 percent add on,” he told her. “Thank you for your help as always.”

When a government official in Pennsylvania considered hiring Penn Credit in 2018, the official called Bock for her opinion of the company. Before calling back, Bock checked in with Donagher.

“What would u need us to tell them about u?” she asked.

Donagher responded with a list of talking points about dependability and innovation. She didn’t get his message in time, but she assured him that the call went fine all the same.

“On phone now w Bill,” she wrote. “Going well. Have Louis & Cindy w me too. Singing ur praises.”

An excerpt from text messages exchanged between Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock and Penn Credit owner Donald Donagher.

Donagher was eying counties across the state for business, and he sometimes compared notes with Bock.

He bragged in 2015 about his progress in ingratiating himself with Brevard County’s clerk, efforts that would later form part of the basis for his indictment.

“Oh by the way, (Brevard clerk) Scott Ellis and I are on very friendly terms,” he wrote. “We email each other personally several times a month about our kids animals etc.”

By then, records show Donagher was comfortable offering gifts to Bock and her staff.

In October 2015 he texted her about giving football tickets to one of Bock's employees. Bock wrote back to say that her staffer could not accept them. 

But, she added, that prohibition did not apply to her.

“She couldn't take the tix,” she wrote. “We have a 0 gift policy. I have a reporting mechanism w the state that's why elected's can accept gifts. But staff doesn't have that.”

She added: “Thank u so much for ur thoughtfulness & generosity!!!”

Though there is no indication Bock took the tickets either, state law allows elected government leaders to accept gifts from vendors they do business with – up to a $100 value per gift. Gifts from vendors worth more than $100 are prohibited.

'Good girl'

With money rolling in from across the state, Donagher in 2016 was focused on keeping his collections fees at 40%. To help ensure they stayed that way, he turned to Bock.

Bock wrote to him in June to inform him she was on a call with other clerks about legislative issues. He responded with a request.

“Try and keep everyone at 40 percent add on fee,” he wrote. “Things are under control at out [sic] end with Ron Book (a prominent lobbyist on Penn Credit’s payroll) and we are ready for next year too.”

“I agree to keep legislation open,” she replied. 

Four days later, Bock had a worrisome update.

“I need to speak w u tomorrow about the effect of lowering ur fee,” she wrote. “Ken Burke (the Pinellas County clerk) arbitrarily choose 25% but, to my knowledge, no one else was a part of this decision.”

“I need to know ur views,” she continued, “as I have a FCCC (Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers association) executive meeting Thursday & I want to bring this up w facts, not puffing.”

Donagher replied that while Burke may be pushing to lower collection fees, most clerks were not.

“90% (of the clerks) are at 40% and not wavering,” he said.

Still he promised to get Bock the information she needed to push back.

“We will call tomorrow and put everything together for you,” he wrote.

Two days later, Bock reported back with good news: She had nixed the talk of lower collection fees.

“Collections r off the agenda,” she said. “I made the case & all agree for now.”

The particulars of the collections-fee debate are not clear from the messages. Bock, Donagher and Book each declined to comment. Burke, the Pinellas clerk, told The Post that he did not recall the specifics.

But Donagher was pleased.

“Good girl,” he responded. “We'll work something out to everyone's satisfaction.”

An excerpt from a text message exchange between Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock and Penn Credit owner Donald Donagher.

Though he said he could not recall the exchange, Burke said that collection fees were a longstanding topic of debate among clerks and legislators.

Some lawmakers wanted clerks office's to be more proactive to collect outstanding court debts, he said. More recently, others had started pressuring them to lower what they considered onerous fees.

“It usually comes up because of legislative pressure of some kind,” he said in an interview. “It’s usually legislative inquiry and we’re a yo-yo.”

Records show Bock was not shy about asking Donagher for favors.

She asked him in 2018 to donate money to the political campaign of her stepson, Daniel Meuser, a Pennsylvania Republican running for Congress.

“Looking for ur support of Danny!” she wrote him. “He's going to win!!”

“He is going to win,” Donagher responded. “I’ll be there for him.”

“Ur my favorite person!!” Bock wrote back. “Thank u!”

The following month Donagher donated $2,700 to Meuser, federal campaign records show. Meuser won the race and currently serves in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2016, Bock hit up Donagher for a more unusual favor: transportation on his helicopter.

“R u going to palm beach county? Do u have room for me in ur helicopter?” she asked. “My flight is tomorrow morning but I was going to go standby today.”

Donagher was not going to Palm Beach County, he said. He was headed to Orlando. But he agreed to make the trip to the county for her all the same.

Florida law’s prohibition on accepting gifts worth more than $100 extends to complimentary air travel, according to the Florida Commission on Ethics. And government leaders are barred by the state ethics code from soliciting gifts of any value from vendors.

But Donagher’s attorney said the helicopter ride was not a gift.

Asked about the flight, Poulos said Bock later reimbursed Donagher a “fair value” for the cost of the ride. He declined to reveal the date or amount of the reimbursement, but he argued the reimbursement meant the flight should not qualify as a gift under Florida law.

'Thanks for the diamond guy'

Former Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock sent Donald Donagher a picture of a diamond that he helped her obtain.

Bock and Donagher regularly went to dinner at upscale restaurants, often with their partners in tow. The messages don’t indicate whether Donagher ever paid for her meals, but Bock often expressed her gratitude afterward.

“Thank u for dinner last nite,” she wrote to him in November 2016. “That was unexpected & very kind.”

After a similar dinner in January 2017, Donagher offered to do Bock a more unusual favor – help her find a diamond ring for her upcoming engagement to her now-husband, Stanley Meuser.

The evening of Jan. 14, the same night they met for dinner at a restaurant in Colorado, Donagher began sending her pictures of a diamond.

The following morning, Bock thanked him for dinner – and for connecting her with a person who could provide a gem.

“Thank u again for the great time last night,” she wrote. “It was so lovely getting to see Lynda again too! We will invite u this winter in FL. Thanks for the diamond guy too!!!”

“Time flies when you're having fun,” Donagher replied. “Stan's a good guy. Nice choice. Here is Benjamin's cell number for the diamonds.”

A month later, on Valentine’s Day, Bock sent Donagher a picture of her and Stanley Meuser posing together, a diamond ring gleaming on her finger.

“It's beautiful!!!” she wrote. “Ben did an outstanding job. Thank u again!”

“Perfect ring for a perfect girl,” Donagher replied. “Dinner wound up being more expensive for Stan than me. Haha.”

In a statement, Donagher’s attorney minimized his role in procuring the diamond, saying he “did nothing more than merely recommend a particular jeweler to her.”

Records, though, show that Donagher played a greater role, indicating he sent multiple photos of a diamond to Bock and details about its characteristics.

A text message exchange between Penn Credit owner Donald Donagher and Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock.

Three days later, Donagher reached out to Bock with his own favor. He was pushing Monroe County’s new clerk of court, who took office the previous month, to give Penn Credit a contract. And he wanted Bock to give the new clerk advice.

“We met with MONROE clerk KEVIN madok today and told him we would like to be on his team,” Donagher said. “Is there anyway you can be his mentor?”

“I'd be happy to be his mentor,” she said. “I'll talk to Fccc (the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers association). Hope ur good Mr Cupid!!!!”

Madok did not return a phone call seeking comment.

By 2018, pressure had grown for clerks to lower their collections fees on residents. Cindy Guerra, the Palm Beach County clerk’s office’s chief operating officer, began pressing Penn Credit and Linebarger to do so.

After coming to a tentative agreement with Guerra, Donagher reached out to Bock. He lamented that he would be reducing his fees but reported that both sides had compromised.

He had agreed, he said, to reduce his rates – to 30% for two years, then to 25% after that.

In exchange, he said, Guerra agreed the clerk’s office would stop letting people who pay overdue fines in person at the office waive their collection fees.

Now, those people would still have to fork out extra money for Penn Credit and Linebarger, even when paying the clerk’s office directly.

“I don’t think anybody is happy about it,” Donagher said of the new deal.

Bock suggested she was not happy either, and that she would speak to Guerra.

“I’ll talk to her today or tomorrow,” she said. “I was upset about r [sic] interfering w already late people. That must stop.”

“Next time changes are being contemplated,” he responded, “we should be in the loop in my opinion.”

“Should you recommend something else,” he added, “let me know.”

Bock did not respond. But by the time the deal was inked two months later, Donagher’s lot had improved.

Rather than have its fees reduced to 25% by 2020, Penn Credit’s fees would remain at 30% indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the clerk’s office would still impose collection fees on people who paid in person.

Under the new terms, Penn Credit’s earnings from the clerk’s office grew the next year, records show.

In 2020, they increased again.

amarra@pbpost.com

@AMarranara