An Allegheny County grand jury has opened a criminal investigation into State Sen. Jane Clare Orie, R-McCandless, the state senate’s third-ranking Republican, and detectives last week seized computers from her district office.

The investigation, confirmed tonight by Jerry McDevitt, who is representing Ms. Orie, apparently began a day before the November election when an intern at the senator’s district office in the North Hills complained to the district attorney’s office that political calls were being made there on behalf of state Supreme Court nominee Joan Orie Melvin, the senator’s sister.

On Friday, detectives executed a search warrant at Ms. Orie’s district office at the La Casa Blanca Building on McKnight Road. Earlier in the month, detectives had placed Ms. Orie’s office under surveillance, Mr. McDevitt said.

Tags: Jane Orie, Stephen Zappala

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