A former Philadelphia city employee who investigated police misconduct says city officials fired him for giving to Philadelphia Daily News reporters information that led to their Pulitzer Prize-winning series on police corruption, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. In a federal lawsuit filed Friday, Wellington Stubbs, who was the chief investigator for the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission, created to handle reports of police wrongdoing, said Mayor Michael Nutter and the deputy mayor for public safety, Everett Gillison, retaliated against him for helping the Daily News.
The lawsuit says Nutter and Gillison were angry because the series “Tainted Justice” led to expensive litigation against the city. The city’s justification for terminating Stubbs stems from an investigation into his residence. City Controller Alan Butkovitz found that Stubbs was living in New Jersey in violation of Philadelphia’s residency requirement and had failed to disclose income from a second job in Camden. That investigation forced Stubbs to leave his job in November, the lawsuit says. The Daily News series exposed a rogue narcotics squad. One of the primary sources was Ventura Martinez, a police informant who complained to Stubbs in late 2008 about illegal activities by narcotics police. Stubbs arranged for Martinez to meet Daily News reporter Wendy Ruderman, who shared the Pulitzer with Barbara Laker.