Hutzell: Constitutional challenge could defang an emboldened government watchdog

The Anne Arundel County auditor’s ambitious new role to root out fraud is about to face its first test in court.

The park superintendent fired last year after the Office of the County Auditor documented her use of a department pickup truck for personal business wants a judge to let her return to work.

Donna Manley Liberto, former superintendent of Lake Waterford Park, claims that the Department of Recreation and Parks wrongfully terminated her in 2025 and that a review panel improperly upheld that decision in April.

One of Liberto’s arguments cuts right to the auditor’s powers — that the investigator violated her Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches with an investigation that included secretly surveilling her.

Neither County Executive Steuart Pittman nor Recreation and Parks Director Jessica Lays has commented on misconduct at the park, or on what steps they’ve taken to prevent similar abuse. At least one part-time bookkeeper was also fired, and other full-time park employees were disciplined.

The auditor’s office, led by Executive Director Louis Duncan Jr., declined to comment on the appeal.

But if a judge agrees with the constitutional argument raised by Liberto’s attorney, Jeffrey McFadden, it could affect the auditor’s ability to pursue fraud, waste and abuse.

That was the goal of changing the charter in 2024, when the County Council asked voters for approval.

Led at the time by council member Allison Pickard, now the Democratic nominee for county executive, the council said it was frustrated with attempts to understand what was going on inside the Pittman administration.

“We want to be able to do the investigations to have government be more transparent,” Council Chair Julie Hummer said in May. “Everybody should know where our money’s going.”

The auditor’s final report on Lake Waterford was posted April 29, four days after the Board of Personnel Matters upheld Liberto’s dismissal. It remains the only investigative report made public since the charter change.

Liberto worked 19 years at rec and parks, first as a sports director and later as a park facilities superintendent. She won accolades in both roles.

The Arnold resident has deep ties to the lacrosse community in Anne Arundel, where the sport’s popularity results in scholarships for local athletes.

Liberto played field hockey at Salisbury University in the late 1980s and then worked as a coach in rec leagues at St. Mary’s High School and for Anne Arundel County Community College.

The auditor did not identify Liberto. But in her appeal, she stated she was fired in July 2025 because of the office’s findings.

The investigation started after a county employee emailed the Office of Law a tip on Liberto’s management of the Pasadena park.

“I discovered she often used a county-owned pickup truck as her own personal vehicle,“ the employee wrote on Feb. 18, 2025. “She claimed to have permission to use it outside of work, but knowing the county policies about take-home vehicles, I suspected that she did not meet the specific criteria.”

The tip was referred to the auditor’s office, where chief investigator Andrew Powell interviewed the employee three months later. Powell began to watch the trucks at Lake Waterford.

The report also found that the superintendent assigned park employees to do maintenance work at a private home, allowed other employees to misuse county trucks and let the part-time bookkeeper clock hours for a no-show job.

Neither Liberto nor her attorney would comment on her dismissal or the appeal. Many of their claims relate to procedural matters during the hearing.

But the question of Liberto’s rights could be focused on the investigation itself. Powell, a former police detective, said in May that he followed the truck.

“It’s just like if somebody goes and then puts a GPS tracking device on your personal vehicle, they need a court order, they need a warrant,” he said. “If the county puts a GPS or tracking device on one of their vehicles, it’s county property. They can.”

Lays recommended firing Liberto, and the county Office of Personnel Management agreed. She was terminated on July 22, 2025.

Liberto appealed to the personnel board, and over three days in early April, McFadden questioned the auditor’s findings and witnesses. The board rejected some of the arguments McFadden lists in the appeal.

McFadden also claims that the county erred by firing Liberto based on the auditor’s report before it was completed. He challenged the ruling as biased, retaliatory and in violation of her due process rights and county discipline policy.

Liberto asked a judge to restore her job with back pay and full benefits, or to order the board to hear the case again. She is seeking damages and lawyers’ fees. No hearing date has been set.

The appeal is not a surprise to anyone who follows county personnel disputes. As a supervisor, Liberto is not a union member, but getting fired before her retirement will affect her pension.

The county can strip benefits from employees convicted of a crime, but no charges were filed against Liberto.

Meanwhile, the auditor’s office is a work in progress.

It remains part of the legislative branch, and because council members oversee it, there is no independent check on its actions. Pickard has said she favors the creation of an inspector general.

Duncan was hired in November as a part-time executive director, a job he continues to hold while working full-time as a federal inspector general.

He works about 10 hours a week, training staff, creating procedures and making a few hires. The council recently posted an advertisement for a full-time auditor.

Duncan himself ran afoul of county rules governing “take-home” vehicles.

On April 2, he got a speed-camera ticket in Howard County while driving home in the vehicle assigned to the auditor’s office.

The county, however, limits use of its cars or trucks for personal commuting to public safety employees, department heads and on-call public works employees.

Hummer said in May that Duncan thought the vehicle was assigned to him rather than to the office. He stopped using it and paid the ticket.

“It was a misunderstanding,” she said.