Politics

'Bonus Gate' Probe Reveals Sexual Liason

SOUTH SIDE (KDKA) ― One of the most sordid details of "Bonus Gate" involves a ghost employee and sexual favors that allegedly took place above a cigar shop on the South Side.

An example of abuse of public money outlined by the Attorney General Tom Corbett involved Bill DeWeese's Chief of Staff Michael Manzo and a 21-year-old Pittsburgh graduate student.

"The grand jury found that in the summer of 2004, Michael Manzo met Angela Bertugli, a 21-year-old legislative intern with whom he allegedly developed a long-running sexual liason," Corbett said.

Manzo created a job and office for Bertugli - assistant to the Allegheny house delegation - although one legislator said he never even knew it existed over the store on the South Side.

The indictment says that Ms. Bertugli received a salary plus a $7,000 bonus for no apparent work except being Mr. Manzo's sexual liason. The owner of the cigar store who rented the space upstairs had no comment.

According to the presentment, Bertugli merely went to school and performed no work at all before being transferred to Harrisburg where she now attends law school.

"By hiring Bertugli, Michael Manzo created an unnecessary, useless and non-productive position," Corbett said.

The presentment says Bertugli continued her sexual liason with Manzo until November of 2007 at which time she was contacted by state investigators. According to the presentment "At that time Bertugli concluded with certainty that Manzo hired her because she was having sex with him."

The grand jury concluded the same thing.

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