Preliminary hearing on corruption charges scheduled for State Rep. Miranda, sister

State Rep. Jose “J.P.” Miranda and his sister Michelle Wilson are scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on charges stemming from an alleged ghost-work plot next Tuesday at the Criminal Justice Center.

The District Attorney’s office announced Wednesday that Miranda, 34, and Wilson, 28, had been “arraigned and released on their own recognizance for conflict of interest, perjury and criminal-conspiracy charges.”

Miranda (D-197), and his sister, are facing those felony charges after they allegedly hired an auto-mechanic to help secretly “funnel” taxpayer dollars to the sister.

During a Monday afternoon press conference, District Attorney Seth Williams said that Miranda and Wilson approached the mechanic about being a “ghost employee” after they learned that Wilson could not serve as Miranda’s legislative chief of staff.

The rules and ethics code of the House Democratic Caucus of the Pennsylvania General Assembly bars lawmakers from hiring relatives to work in their offices.

The D.A.’s Public Corruption Task Force investigation began after a Fox29 report story about that mechanic, Timothy Duckett, who cameras captured “working at his auto repair shop on the days he was supposed to be working in Miranda’s legislative office.”