PennLive, with support from the Fund, dug into a county grant program and found serious irregularities that led the head of the program to resign and caused the county to stop making grants and reform the program. PennLive’s continued reporting revealed that a former Pennsylvania official’s private business received a $40,000 grant to make food deliveries to low-income people — then used the entire grant to purchase a luxury pickup truck instead. Six days after PennLive published the investigation, the former official sold the truck to Carvana, a CARFAX report revealed. The former official also verbally threatened a county commissioner who spoke out against the truck purchase in PennLive. He was subsequently charged with misdemeanor harassment.
Grantee investigation into Pennsylvania county grant program uncovers further impropriety, sparking more impact
