Magisterial District Judge charged with fixing her own tickets is suspended from the bench

The magisterial district judge who was charged by the state attorney general with illegally fixing her own traffic tickets has been suspended with pay by the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board, according to local news reports.

Kelly S. Ballentine, a district judge from Lancaster County, was charged with two felonies and a misdemeanor after authorities said she used a judicial computer system to scrap motor vehicle violations that had been issued to her by Lancaster City police officers in November 2010.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said that Ballentine had used her position as a local jurist to access the judicial computer system and illegally dismiss her own traffic citations.

Kelly has said there is no record of Ballentine having paid any of the fines, which included parking violations and an expired vehicle registration ticket, to Lancaster police or the city treasurer.

The attorney general announced the charges against Ballentine on Feb. 13.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported Feb. 23 that Ballentine was suspended with pay.

A message left with a spokesman for the Judicial Conduct Board seeking to confirm the judge’s suspension was not returned Thursday.