Pa. AG Josh Shapiro touts achievements of office, ongoing fights in Centre County and beyond
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro prides himself on a willingness to take on any fight during his first three years in office.
That includes the Catholic Church — what he believes to be the most powerful organization in the world — President Donald Trump and the creators of prescription painkiller OxyContin. Some of those legal battles have also brought him to Centre County.
Shapiro said statewide referrals to his office have increased 39%, and he described his relationship with the county district attorney’s office as “constructive” during a visit Wednesday to the Centre Daily Times.
“I have an excellent relationship with the (state) attorney general’s office,” county District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said. “We’re both working to solve the same set of problems.”
Ongoing investigations, lingering cases
Shapiro said one of his main objectives is to be receptive to consumer complaints, including seniors targeted by scams and students who may be targeted by property management companies.
Legacy Realty and Property Management, Associated Realty Property Management and Continental Real Estate Management were each accused by Shapiro’s office this year of devious security deposit practices.
CREM agreed in April to pay $40,000 to remedy its administrative fee practices. The lawsuits against LRPM and ARPM are still pending, according to court documents.
Shapiro declined to discuss any potential ongoing investigations, but encouraged anyone who feels they have been take advantage of to file a complaint.
“Obviously, I can’t really get into what investigations we have underway, but I can tell you we’re busy. We’re not done in this area,” Shapiro said. “We’re continuing to pay attention, and we continue to want to hear from students.”
Student complaints are among the more than 67,000 fielded by his office. And while they’re not formal, he’s also heard complaints from county residents about the prosecution of former Penn State President Graham Spanier.
The embattled former executive was less than one day away from reporting to jail when a federal judge in April overturned his child-endangerment conviction.
The judge agreed with Spanier that he was improperly charged under a 2007 law for actions that occurred in 2001, when he received a complaint about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy on campus.
That question of state law was already determined by the state Supreme Court, which should have the final word on state legal matters, Shapiro said. His appeal of the judge’s decision is still pending in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Defense attorneys Sam Silver and Bruce Merenstein in May called Shapiro’s appeal “overzealous and unlawful.”
Shapiro declined to say whether his office would retry Spanier if the appeal is denied, but has a clear view of accountability for child abuse cases.
“If you turn a blind eye to a young person who is being abused — whether it’s in a church pew or on a college campus or in a business somewhere — we’re going to hold you accountable,” Shapiro said. “... That’s not something that I am willing to walk away from. It’s just not.”
Continued fight, new threat in drug addiction
Twelve Pennsylvanians die daily because of the opioid epidemic, and rural communities are “hardest hit” when it comes to overdose death rates, Shapiro said.
Heroin and fentanyl are the most likely killers, but methamphetamine use is “an emerging threat” in Centre County. Increased meth use began in northwestern Pennsylvania and is migrating east, Shapiro said.
While overdose deaths in Centre County are on pace to be at a seven-year low, Shapiro said the opioid epidemic is still the “No. 1 threat in Pennsylvania.”
“Drug addiction is a disease, not a crime,” Shapiro said. “If you’re truly going to get at the heart of solving this crisis, you’ve gotta get at the supply chain of this.”
The state legislature provided Shapiro’s office additional funding to upgrade its diversion unit, which reroutes legal prescription drugs that are being used illegally. Arrests from that unit are up 61%, Shapiro said.
Protecting students
About 65% of Pennsylvania students have debt, and each is tasked with paying back about $37,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. Only Connecticut students have higher average payments.
Penn State students bear the highest debt loan among Big Ten schools at more than $36,000.
“The debt is too high,” Shapiro said. “I think there needs to be, obviously, broad discussion in Harrisburg and Washington about the affordability of higher education.”
Instead of waiting for that tedious process to begin, Shapiro said his office plans to prosecute “predatory” lenders.
His office was one of about a half dozen throughout the country to file a lawsuit against student-loan service Navient. Shapiro’s lawsuit alleged Navient offered predatory loans to college students with poor credit, who were not able to repay their loans after attending colleges with a low graduation rate.
“Students here at Penn State, they need to understand that the federal government is actively working against them and making it harder for them in these situations where there’s a conflict with their loan company,” Shapiro said.
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