A trio of convicted former elected officials have landed new city jobs

Three former Philadelphia elected officials who were convicted on corruption charges and left office in disgrace have found a second chance — with taxpayer-funded jobs.

Former Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary and former State Rep. Leslie Acosta both landed positions in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration, according to city payroll records. And former State Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell is now working under Sheriff Rochelle Bilal.

Singletary, who was kicked off the bench for sexual harassment in 2011 and convicted in 2014 of lying to the FBI about fixing a ticket, is employed as a deputy director in the managing director’s office, earning a $90,000 annual salary.

Acosta, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to helping facilitate a money laundering conspiracy at a low-income mental health clinic, landed a community outreach job within the Department of Commerce, earning $70,000 a year.

And Johnson-Harrell, who pleaded guilty to theft and perjury after being charged with taking $500,000 from a nonprofit that she founded, started as a public information officer in the sheriff’s office in August, where she draws a $75,000 salary.

None of the former elected officials responded to requests for comment.

In a statement, Parker spokesperson Joe Grace said Acosta and Singletary would not have direct access to the “use or distribution of public funds” or supervise any employees.

“The Parker administration supports every person’s right to a second chance in society, and that includes Mr. Singletary and Ms. Acosta,” Grace wrote. “We also believe, just as strongly, that every individual must be accountable for his or her actions.”

A spokesperson for the sheriff did not respond to a request for comment.

Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of the government watchdog Common Cause Pennsylvania, said he doesn’t think City Hall should be offering second chances to convicted elected officials.

“There are many Philadelphians manifestly qualified for these roles who have not been involved in notable scandals. But instead, the sheriff and the mayor have hired individuals who should be nowhere near public service,” he said. “Philadelphians deserve a government that upholds the highest standards of ethical conduct.”

Convicted officials are no stranger to comebacks in Philadelphia’s municipal workforce: Johnson-Harrell’s statehouse predecessor, former Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, landed a job at the city’s Register of Wills after serving a 23-month probation sentence on bribery charges. And Marita Crawford, a former ally to labor leader John J. Dougherty who did federal time for her role in the Local 98 electricians’ union embezzlement scheme, recently found her second chance as legislative director for City Councilmember Jimmy Harrity.

The mayor’s spokesperson would not say if the Singletary or Acosta positions had been publicly advertised, or if either had formally applied or submitted resumes.

Lauren Cristella, director of the good government nonprofit Committee of Seventy, said that while second chances were important, the city’s hiring process needed to be open.

“The City has an obligation to provide full transparency about the hiring process, disclose its criteria, and demonstrate that each hire is the best fit for their role,” she said. “Ensuring transparency and accountability in hiring builds a stronger foundation of trust between the public and those who serve them. Withholding this information undermines that trust.”

In August, Singletary updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new role as deputy director of Community Partnerships at the Mayor’s Office of Community Economic Opportunity.

The former judge first gained notoriety after he was first removed from the bench in 2012 after a 2007 video surfaced from before his election, in which the then-candidate suggested at a biker rally that campaign donors could get a “hookup” in his courtroom. Later, it was revealed that he had personally accumulated over $11,000 in traffic tickets.

In 2012, he was suspended by a judicial conduct board after a female court employee accused him of showing her images of his genitals on his phone during a night shift.

“We think that the public — even those members of the public who register the lowest scores on the sensitivity index — do not expect their judges to be conducting photo sessions featuring the judicial penis,” the Court of Judicial Discipline wrote.

Singletary, a pastor, claimed it was an accident.

He was later indicted in a wide-reaching federal probe into Philadelphia’s traffic court, which snared four judges accused of wiping away traffic tickets for friends, family, and political allies.

In 2015, a jury convicted him of lying to federal investigators and he was sentenced to 20 months in prison. A year later, voters chose to abolish the traffic court as an independent entity, merging it into the city’s Municipal Court.

Singletary has since sought to reenter politics, attempting to run for City Council (he was barred, due to his conviction) and, later, Congress (he missed a filing deadline and did not appear on the ballot).

Acosta is the daughter of former State Rep. Ralph Acosta. Her trailblazing political career as the first Latina elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives came to an abrupt end in 2016, when she quietly pleaded guilty to money laundering.

The charges stemmed from Acosta’s work at a publicly funded Fairhill mental health clinic prior to taking office, and were part of a federal probe that also led to the conviction of Philadelphia political scion Renee Tartaglione. Acosta later pleaded guilty to accepting checks worth thousands of dollars from the clinic for work she did not perform and kicking back the proceeds to Tartaglione.

Acosta’s plea deal was sealed by a federal judge and not announced publicly until The Inquirer broke the news. Acosta, who was seeking reelection in an uncontested race at the time, was forced to resign in 2018, ordered to pay $623,000 in restitution, and serve seven months in federal prison.

According to the Spanish-language publication Impacto, she worked with now-Commerce Director Alba Martinez on a project last year through Martinez’s community arts nonprofit, La Guagua 47.

Johnson-Harrell’s political rise was fueled by an inspiring personal story.

A onetime public housing tenant from West Philadelphia, she lost her father, brother, and sons in violent incidents. She later earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and founded two nonprofits focused on antiviolence and social service work. In 2018, she was hired as a victim services supervisor under District Attorney Larry Krasner.

In 2019, she was elected to lead the 190th District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. However, less than a year after her inauguration, Johnson-Harrell pleaded to multiple theft and perjury charges brought by then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Shapiro accused her of embezzling over $500,000 from the Motivations Education & Consultation Associates, a nonprofit she founded to serve people suffering from mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. According to prosecutors, she funneled money out of the organization through bogus “rental” payments, and spent the money on personal expenses including the purchase of four fur coats, vacations, and car payments for a Porsche.

She was sentenced to three months in jail, plus years more of house arrest, parole, and probation.

Johnson-Harrell landed a public relations job at the Sheriff’s Office in August. Sheriff Bilal also employs an outside communications consultant who serves as spokesperson.

Hensley-Robin, the ethics advocate, said that the broader pattern of hiring raised questions about the integrity of local government in Philadelphia.

“It’s simple, he said. “Former public servants convicted of corruption do not belong on the public payroll.”