[Victims of Court Corruption] Judge Dismisses Her Own Traffic Violations

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-judge-tickets-idUSTRE81C1YZ20120213

Judge busted for dismissing her own traffic tickets

Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:49pm EST

(Reuters) - A Pennsylvania judge faces criminal charges for allegedly dismissing traffic tickets against her that included expired registration on her BMW, the state's attorney general said on Monday.

Magisterial District Judge Kelly Ballentine, 43, of Lancaster, faces conflict of interest, tampering with public records and obstruction charges in the case, Attorney General Linda Kelly said in a statement.

Lancaster police issued two tickets to Ballentine in November 2010 for parking violations in front of her home. She got a third ticket for out-of-date registration on her BMW sedan, the statement said.

Ballentine failed to pay the tickets on time and summonses were mailed to her. The judge then accessed the online court system records and dismissed the summonses, which had been issued in her name, it said.

Ballentine was arraigned on Monday and released on $25,000 bond, the statement said.

Ballentine was not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Greg McCune)