Photo courtesy of CT House Democrats

State Rep. Bob Megna: Marshals are interpreting the law to their own financial benefit.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal suspects top-earning state marshals of using illegal tactics to earn their fortunes. But before he spends too long investigating illegal conduct, Blumenthal might consider the perfectly legal ways state marshals rip off strapped homeowners.

The politically connected marshals have what looks to be the best job around. For serving legal papers on families facing foreclosure — and the agencies they owe money to — top-earning marshals can make more than $100,000 a year.

State marshals recently filed annual earnings statements for 2008 — a year that saw record numbers of homeowners in foreclosure, and lucrative hauls for the marshals paid to serve their legal documents.

Hartford-area state marshal John Fiorillo netted more than $1 million thanks to his exclusive deal with law firms that do foreclosure work for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Eighteen other marshals reported earning over $100,000.

That touched off a flurry of media reports and an investigation by Blumenthal's office into whether top-earning marshals are taking kickbacks or illegally subcontracting delivery work to other people.

You don't need an attorney general's probe to see the marshal system is a state-sanctioned fleecing that rewards the politically-connected at the expense of struggling homeowners. For that, just look in your nearest courthouse, where the outsize fees they collect are itemized in eye-popping detail in any foreclosure lawsuit.

Consider the three-day haul last November by Peter Criscuolo, a New Haven-area state marshal who reported earning $131,373 in 2008.

Criscuolo is chairman of the North Haven Democratic Party and has raised money for the campaigns of New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. Criscuolo earns tens of thousands of dollars from law firms contracted by the city of New Haven to foreclose on homeowners for unpaid taxes.

On Nov. 10 of last year, Criscuolo took a stack of documents for six separate foreclosures to the New Haven city clerk's office to get them stamped and certified.

Two days later, on Nov. 12, Criscuolo served those foreclosure papers at a dozen local addresses, all within 10 miles of downtown New Haven.

The following day, Nov. 13, Criscuolo served a state office in Hartford and swung by the North Haven post office, where he mailed documents to mortgage companies in Flint, Mich., Newark, Del., and Horsham, Penn.

For those trips, Criscuolo billed a whopping $2,893.20, according to court documents. Some of that went to pay clerk's fees and the like, but much of it went into his own pocket. Criscuolo's case is typical of what you see with many of the state's 262 state marshals.

How can someone earn so much for doing so little? For one thing, the law lets marshals charge $1 per page for photocopies — whether they paid to make the copies or not. Many law firms provide copies to the marshals, who then simply deliver them.

For another, they can charge separately for delivering the lis pendens and the writ, summons and complaint — even though the former document is merely an attachment of the latter. That's $30 per document, or $60 for both. Some marshals also charge fees not expressly authorized in state statute, like the $15 "search" fee and $15 "certification" fee.

Who pays those fees? Homeowners in foreclosure, who are already struggling to stay afloat. Marshals fees can add up to hundreds of dollars, sometimes more than what a homeowner actually ends up paying in back taxes.

State Rep. Bob Megna, a New Haven Democrat, tried twice this year to pass legislation right-sizing the marshals' fees but was shut down by his Democratic colleagues.

Megna says the law never intended to let marshals charge separately for papers that are delivered together. Legislation he proposed would have clarified that marshals can only collect one fee — not two — for serving documents, and can only charge for photocopies when they paid to make them.

A report by the General Assembly's Office of Legislative Research published in April backs up Megna's view of the law. Jim Neal, legislative liaison for the State Marshals' Office, told researchers the lis pendens attachment is not a separate service and is not subject to a separate $30 fee.

"People are being overcharged because some marshals are interpreting the law to their own financial benefit," Megna says. "The U.S. Postal Service can do the job at a fraction of the cost."

Megna, who is a private landlord, last year accused Criscuolo of overcharging him for service fees on an investment property he owns that was in foreclosure. Megna filed a complaint with the State Marshal Commission, which ultimately sided with Criscuolo. Megna says that experience opened his eyes to marshal fees, but says his bills weren't personal. Megna doesn't blame state marshals for raking in big bucks; he blames the system that enables them to.

"I say they have been unjustly earning millions of dollars a year, because the law is not clear," Megna says.

Marshals can rightly claim that their jobs warrant some amount of hazard pay, more than a simple postman would earn. Marshals are the ones who tell distressed homeowners that they'll be kicked out of their house if they can't cough up money they often don't have.

Meriden-area state marshal Sanford Sheftel told the Meriden Record-Journal he's been thrown off a porch and had a gun pulled on him. Others point out that marshals are self-employed and as such have the added costs of paying their own health insurance and expenses.

But the pay seems disproportionate to the work they do. And the marshals don't get these coveted jobs for being the fastest, most courteous, highest scoring civil servants around. They're appointed by the State Marshal Commission, which is itself appointed by top legislative leaders and the state's chief justice. A quick look through the list of marshals shows many to be political party leaders, major campaign donors and sitting elected officials: New Haven Democratic chair Susie Voigt; Hartford Democratic powerbroker Abraham Giles; and sitting state Rep. Antonio Guerrera, a Rocky Hill Democrat to name just three.

The very people scoring lucrative state marshal work — often through governmental agencies — are the ones keeping government leaders in power by securing nominations for them or raising funds for their campaigns. That's not illegal. But the fees they collect on the backs of down and out property owners — and the political patronage system that enables it — should be criminal.