Former DAs indicted in wife-hiring scheme

Wallace Bradsher and Craig Blitzer were each indicted Tuesday on a misdemeanor charge of failure to discharge the duties of their office. Blitzer surrendered at the Wake County jail on Thursday and was released on a $2,000 bond. Bradsher was expected to surrender on Friday.

The State Bureau of Investigation began investigating a year ago allegations that Bradsher and Blitzer got around a state restriction on hiring a spouse by hiring each other's wives and that the women were paid for little or no work. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman was brought in to determine whether the SBI's findings warranted criminal prosecution.

Bradsher, who resigned last month as district attorney in Person and Caswell counties, hired Cindy Blitzer as a legal assistant in early 2015, while Craig Blitzer, who resigned in March as Rockingham County district attorney, hired Bradsher's wife in a similar position, according to a whistleblower lawsuit filed in February.

The former employee in Bradsher's office who filed the lawsuit said she never saw Cindy Blitzer in the office and that Blitzer was enrolled full time in nursing school at the time.

According to the application for a warrant the SBI obtained to search Cindy Blitzer's work computer, an SBI agent conducting surveillance on Cindy Blitzer saw her taking classes at a local university when she was supposed to be working.

The agent also interviewed two of Craig Blitzer's employees who said that he asked them to take online math courses for his wife and even gave them permission to do the online work during the work day.

The indictment against Bradsher alleges that he continued paying Cindy Blitzer for work she didn't perform from April 1 to Oct. 24, 2016.

The indictment against Craig Blitzer alleges that he "used the resources of the office for which he was elected for personal gain by employing Tyler Henderson ... in exchange for the continued employment of his wife, Cindy Little Blitzer." The indictment states Henderson was paid from Aug. 18, 2015, to Oct. 25, 2016, and Freeman said he handled the timesheets for people in Bradsher's office, including those for Cindy Blitzer.

"At the conclusion of the investigation, evidence would not support a finding that Pam Bradsher failed to do any work," Freeman told WRAL News. "The indictments are based on allegations that the District Attorneys allowed Mrs. Blitzer to continue on Mr Bradsher's payroll despite the fact that no work was being performed."