NorCo Hires Former Heroin User and Stripper as Corrections Officer

When John Brown first became Northampton County Executive, amid trumpets and fireworks, another person was much more quietly starting her employment with the County as a corrections officer. She had good reason to fly under the radar because she had more than a few secrets. But within a month of being hired, she had told enough people about her past that word got back to then Corrections Director Arnie Matos. He refused to take action because, by this time, she and another corrections officer had become a part of the Cathy Allen snitch brigade. Unfortunately, instead of revealing real abuses at the jail, they are using their positions to trump up charges and get rid of good officers

I'll call her Madame X. When she first applied to work at the jail, she was interviewed by none other than Operations Administrator Al Crivellaro. You may recall that in 2010, he pleaded no contest to furnishing alcohol to ten minors during a graduation party for his daughter. When Colonial Regional Police responded, Crivellaro asked them to call Chief Roy "Buzzy" Seiple so he could use his connections to stop the charges. He failed, but managed to hold onto his job at the jail.

Did he use his connections to get Madame X hired? That's unclear, but what is known is that, in addition to doing the interview, Crivellaro volunteered to do the background check. That is something he had never done before, and is a task usually performed by Corrections Department Detective Chris Naugle.

The application cried out for answers. Though required to fill it out completely, Madame X had significant gaps in her work history, most notably between 1989 and 1996.

According to Crivellaro, she passed her background investigation with flying colors.

CR Fanny's closed after i worked there just one night. 

But soon after she started, she began telling co-workers about her past. Between 1989 and 1996, she had led quite an interesting life. She had worked as a stripper at various local establishments, as well as in New Jersey and New York. She had been a model for various Biker magazines, even posing nude. She sent some of these nude pictures to her new pals after being hired at the jail. But it was not all fun and games. She apparently had fallen into drug abuse, too. And with the worst possible drug. Heroin. She did kick her addiction, thanks to her first husband. During this time, when her life must have been at its lowest point, she told at least one person that she had turned to prostitution.

Though former Corrections Director Arnie Matos refused to take any action, she has since confirmed that she failed to submit a complete application. She has admitted to working in the adult entertainment industry, both as a stripper or dancer, and as a model for biker magazines. She has also admitted drug use, but attempts to minimize it.

She claims, for example, that she experimented once or twice with heroin.

Nobody experiments with heroin.

She has also used her connections with Assistant Administrator Cathy Allen and another corrections officer to try to get people fired. So far, they have managed, at least temporarily, to get rid of at least two prison workers on trumped up charges.

I'm all for giving people second chances. But corrections experts tell me that her past in adult entertainment could make her job more difficult, especially if she runs into people she knows from that world.

Northampton County has never had a problem hiring officers who at times smoked weed. But policy is that nobody who has used heroin should ever be hired to work as a corrections officer. In this case, it appears that Madame X has compounded her problem by being dishonest on her job application.

On top of everything else, she has another problem. She is a bigot. I looked at her Facebook page over the weekend. She has repeated posts of the Confederate Battle Flag, complains about the appointment to the Immigration Department of Fatima Noor, a Muslim who fled from Somalia as a child and became a United States citizen. She also claims, on Facebook, that we are one nation under God, not Allah. She just posted a joke about a redneck girl who shoots an Arab and a Mexican.

Very funny.

She certainly has a First Amendment right to be a bigot and be intolerant of other religions. But as a corrections officer, she will encounter numerous inmates who are black or Muslim or both. When she uses Facebook to make racist remarks or statements that infringe on religious freedom guaranteed in this country, she should be fired for that reason alone. Exercising those rights have consequences.

She is also endangering own safety, as well asthe safety of other corrections officers with these unnecessary statements.

She proudly refers to herself as a redneck. At the jail, it appears that only rednecks need apply. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.