Drug charges dismissed against suspended Greene County attorney
A judge has dismissed all charges against a suspended Greene County attorney who was accused of being high on drugs and in possession of methamphetamine and paraphernalia while picking up her son at the school bus stop in Waynesburg last year.
Greene County President Judge Lou Dayich dismissed the case Thursday against Kimberly Furmanek following a suppression hearing last month in which her attorney argued that her vehicle was wrongly searched by a county probation officer rather than a Waynesburg police officer, who ultimately filed the charges without securing a warrant.
Furmanek was taken into custody May 16 when a person called authorities to alert them of what appeared to be an intoxicated woman sitting in a parked car on West Elm Street in Waynesburg. A borough police officer came to the scene and recognized Furmanek, who was on probation in Washington County, and contacted the Greene County probation office about the situation. The probation officer searched Furmanek’s vehicle and found suspected methamphetamine and unused needles, according to court documents.
She was later brought to the probation office in the county’s Fort Jackson Building while her son was given to the care of his great-grandparents. Furmanek, 37, of Waynesburg, was briefly lodged in the Greene County jail on a probation detainer and charged the next day with driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance and 37 counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
The driving under the influence charge was dismissed following Furmanek’s preliminary hearing last June, but defense attorney Adam Yarussi filed the suppression motion Sept. 3 and argued during a Dec. 2 hearing that the evidence was not collected legally. Yarussi claimed the state’s “stalking horse doctrine” did not permit the probation office to search the vehicle without a warrant and then hand over the evidence to borough police to file charges.
“Officer (Nathan) Hamilton took no action in the course of his duties as a law enforcement officer,” Yarussi wrote in his suppression motion. “Instead, Officer Hamilton called Probation Officer (Brad) Hartman to search the Defendant’s vehicle. Again, it is important to stress that Greene County Adult Probation Office was not going to take any official action when Officer Hamilton was dispatched to the scene. It was not until Officer Hamilton called the Greene County Probation Office that they came to the scene to conduct a warrantless search.”
In dismissing the case last week, Dayich agreed with Yarussi’s argument and cited case law that stated the probation officer “essentially ‘switched hats’ and in all relevant respects, became a police officer” during the search.
“After review of relevant case law and appropriate statutes, we determine that the Greene County Adult Probation did not intend to come to the scene when the anonymous caller called and reported Ms. Furmanek’s alleged behavior. Officer Hamilton proceeded to the scene but did not arrest or search Ms. Furmanek,” Dayich wrote in his order dismissing the case. “It was only after a call from Officer Hamilton to the Greene County Probation that then resulted in the Probation Officers coming to the scene and searching Ms. Furmanek’s vehicle. Officer Hamilton filed criminal charges from the results of that search.”
Greene County District Attorney Brianna Vanata could not be reached for comment Monday to discuss the case or whether she planned to appeal Dayich’s decision to dismiss the charges.
Yarussi said Furmanek, who has been free while the case was proceeding, is pleased with the outcome and ready to put the situation behind her.
“My client is happy with the court’s careful consideration of the law and its ruling, which granted her motion to suppress the evidence and dismiss all charges,” Yarussi said in a written statement. “She can finally focus on moving forward with her life.”
At the time of her arrest on the drug charges in Waynesburg last year, Furmanek was already facing a possible law license suspension from the state Disciplinary Board for a romantic relationship she had with a Washington County jail inmate who was also her client at the time. She also was on probation after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct in August 2023 in Washington County after allowing that inmate to eavesdrop on a conversation with another attorney in 2022.
A hearing committee that convened last year and held a two-day hearing May 8 and 9 – about a week before her arrest in Waynesburg – recommended in November that Furmanek should be suspended for one year and a day. Online documents show Furmanek’s disciplinary case was “adjudicated by the board” Thursday following Dayich’s order to dismiss the case.
The state Supreme Court temporarily suspended her law license two months after she was charged while the Disciplinary Board continued to review her situation. It’s not immediately known if that temporary suspension will be factored into the year-long suspension handed down by the Disciplinary Board.