Top Democratic elected officials in Chester County along with the party’s top brass are refusing to comment regarding County Treasurer Patricia Maisano (D), who for years has been peddling degrees that did not come from a rigorous, accredited institution of higher education, but rather was delivered by a diploma mill that will give anyone a “masters” degree for $299 or more.

Broad + Liberty first reported on Maisano’s diploma-mill degrees in 2021, but published an update this week showing Maisano has twice been kicked out of federal court cases in which she was hired by the plaintiffs to be an expert medical witness. In one of those instances, the judge severely undermined Maisano’s credibility as an expert witness. 

Although her masters and doctorate “degrees” come from the diploma mill, parts of her earlier résumé in which she became a registered nurse, and her later role in the creation of a company that provides senior-care services are not in question.

After publishing the follow-up story, Broad + Liberty requested comment from all three elected Chester County commissioners, as well as from the chair and vice chair of the Chester County Democratic Party, asking if they still had full faith in Maisano as treasurer.

One county commissioner, the Republican, Eric Roe responded. “I’m honestly not left speechless by much, but if this is true, I’m speechless,” Roe said. “All I can say is thank God for good judges,” he said, in reference to the two federal cases in which Maisano’s testimony was disallowed. 

The other two county commissioners, Democrats Josh Maxwell and Marian Moskowitz, did not respond.

The chair of the Chester County Democrats, Charlotte Valyo, also did not respond to emails, phone calls, and text messages.

When reached by phone on Monday, the vice chair of the county Democrats, Jerry Pyne, also declined to comment. But Pyne did say that he and others in the party were doing their own investigation of the matter, and that if a comment was to be issued, it would likely be issued as a group. No further communication has been received.

Although no Democrat has condemned or criticized Maisano, neither has any person defended her or offered an explanation of her degrees.

Broad + Liberty pinpointed a 2017 webpage from Tredyffrin Democrats in which Maisano referred to her “Doctorate in Health Sciences, Sheffield University,” — a reference that is, as of now, the earliest known reference to Sheffield University or Sheffield State.

As the Hartford Courant laid out in 2015, both names refer to a diploma mill that grants degrees based on “life experiences” — and fees that range from $299 and up. For $1,299, an applicant can receive a bachelor’s, masters, and doctorate degrees that includes free shipping of 40 documents. The graduation date is “your choice,” according to the diploma mill’s website.

“Sheffield State University provide all the candidates an opportunity to have life experience degrees on the basis of their at least 2 years previous work experience or with their current work experience on the desired faculty,” its website says (errors original). “There are 300+ Majors on which Sheffield State University providing life experience degree. You just have to select your faculty from the list and apply for it.”

Broad + Liberty’s most recent story about Maisano detailed how her work as an “expert” medical witness was eventually not allowed into two federal court cases. 

In one of those cases, a domestic violence case from Florida, the judge appeared to criticize every level of Maisano’s work, from her reports to her ability to follow guidelines and rules for expert witnesses.

“Here, the Report [authored by Maisano] contains two and a half pages of vague and conclusory assertions that Plaintiff has PTSD, and that Defendant is the direct cause of this ailment,” the judge wrote. “Nowhere in the Report does Maisano explain the criteria that she used to diagnose or confirm that Plaintiff has PTSD, nor does she explain how she came to the opinion that Defendant was the direct cause of Plaintiff’s psychological ailments.”

The judge also ruled on a procedure which requires the expert to list other cases in which he or she has testified as an expert.

“As to the fifth requirement, the [Maisano] Report fails to list all of the cases within the past four years in which Maisano has testified as an expert,” the judge noted. “In fact, the Report does not list a single instance in which Maisano has ever testified.”

Maisano did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

Todd Shepherd is Broad + Liberty’s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com, or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports