A hearing was to be held Friday on a retail theft charge against
former Bradford oncologist Dr. Edward Miskiel, but because of a
technicality, the case was dismissed and will be re-filed by
Bradford City Police.
The hearing, which was held in front of District Judge Dom
Cercone, began with attorney Greg Henry representing Miskiel and
with Assistant District Attorney Scott Klein as prosecutor.
Cercone read the summary complaint, which accuses Miskiel of
taking a $10.99 bottle of Motrin from Tops Market on April 3.
Miskiel pleaded innocent to the charge.
Before proceeding with the case, Klein asked Cercone to amend
the complaint against Miskiel to a different subsection of the
charge of retail theft to section 3929(a)(1).
Section 3929(a)(1) is defined as when a person “takes possession
of, carries away, transfers or causes to be carried away or
transferred, any merchandise displayed, held, stored or offered for
sale by any store or other retail mercantile establishment with the
intention of depriving the merchant of the possession, use or
benefit of such merchandise without paying the full retail price
thereof.”
Miskiel had been charged with section 3929(a)(3), which is
defined as when a person “transfers any merchandise displayed,
held, stored or offered for sale by any store or other retail
mercantile establishment from the container in of which the same
shall be displayed to any other container with intent to deprive
the merchant of all or some part of the full retail value
thereof.”
“The reason?” asked Henry.
“An error in the filing,” Klein replied.
Henry opposed the motion, saying he had only been made aware of
it by Cercone and with little notice prior to the hearing.
“The two sections being dealt with are distinct and different
elements,” Henry argued. He said he had learned of the motion to
amend two days before the hearing, and didn’t feel that was
sufficient notice.
“They want to amend their entire theory of liability two days
before the trial,” Henry said. “It’s prejudicial to the defense.
This puts us at a disadvantage. The charge should have been
withdrawn and re-filed.”
Klein disagreed with Henry’s assertions, saying that it is the
same facts and the same witnesses backing either subsection of the
charge. He said the reason the charge was not dismissed and
re-filed was because City Police Officer Mike Ward had asked
Cercone his preference on how to proceed with the case.
“He acted on the advice of the court,” Klein said.
Cercone told Henry that because of the late notice of the motion
to amend the case, he would give Miskiel three options – amend the
complaint at that time, continue the case to another time to allow
more time to prepare a defense, or the charge could be dismissed
and re-filed.
Henry and Miskiel took a moment to speak to each other in
private before Henry told Cercone they wished for the complaint to
be dismissed and re-filed.
He also requested that Klein’s witnesses – four people who
represented Tops – be sequestered during the hearing when it is
held.
There was no date set for another hearing on the matter.
Miskiel had been employed as an oncologist at Bradford Regional
Medical Center. He was fired in January, and BRMC cited employee
confidentiality as the reason for not going into further detail
about his termination.
Since then, however, BRMC and Bradford Regional Medical Services
have filed lawsuits against Miskiel, alleging that he had
intentionally miscoded billing codes, had not adequately completed
patient medical records and had logged onto more than 20
pornographic Web sites on hospital-owned computers.
Miskiel has denied the allegations of accessing pornography. He
also said he was behind on his patient records because he did not
have enough clerical help.
