The advertisements, paid for by the judge and his wife, Eleanor, claim to set the record straight by delivering the true facts.

But many of the claims made in the advertisements are either not accurate or do not tell the whole story. One ad alone contains more than six misleading statements.

The same applies to other statements the judge has made since word of the investigation first surfaced.

For example, for months he denied that a state attorney generals agent and a county detective visited him at his home in April and informed him he had become a target of the grand jury investigation.

His attorney, Paul Walker, now says the judge denied being notified because the notice was off the record and that Eagen believed the grand jury secrecy prevented him from talking about it.

Eagen continued denying knowledge that he was being investigated, even after Barrasse met with both Eagen and Walker to inform them of it.

Last week, Eagen issued another false statement. He said he received the grand jurys target letter from District Attorney Michael Barrasse shortly before noon on Oct. 23.

In fact, the letter was delivered to him the night of Oct. 22.

Walker, who said he received his copy of the letter at 8:57 a.m. Oct. 23, conferred with Eagen about it shortly after.

But Eagen did not inform President Judge James Walsh of it until late in the morning of Oct. 23. And then only after pre-siding over a hearing.

After informing Walsh, Eagen took an administrative leave from his judicial duties.

Because Barrasse issued the letter notifying Eagen he is the potential target of the probe, Barrasse is bearing the brunt of the judges claim that the investigation is politically motivated.

I was in a no-win situation, Barrasse said of his reason for issuing the letter when he did.

I had a responsibility to set the record straight and formally notify him that he was a target of the investigation.

Eagen, meanwhile, is trying to dissuade the public from listening to one of his key accusers.

In his advertising, Eagen comes down hard on Philip Bosha, who looted estates to which the judge appointed him guardian.

After pleading guilty, Bosha told investigators he gave Eagen kickbacks from the stolen estate money.

Eagen, in his paid ads, accuses Bosha of lying, a statement which has created even more problems for the judge.

A Lackawanna County Court hearing is scheduled Monday on a motion filed by Boshas attorney Harold Kane, who wants Eagen restrained from advertising claims that Bosha is a liar.

Walker intends to contest the motion, but said he does not intend to call the judge to testify.

President Judge James Walsh gave Kane little reason to believe the motion will be successful. Walsh suggested on Friday the motion infringed on the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech.

But Walsh also suggested the state Supreme Courts Judicial Conduct Board would be a more appropriate forum for the complaint, since the board polices the actions of judges.

The board could prove more troublesome to Eagen should Kane eventually take his complaint to it.

In his motion, Kane says Eagens comments about Bosha, who himself is a target of the grand jury investigation and faces criminal charges in Wyoming County, violate canons of the state Judicial Code of Conduct.

The code makes it unethical for judges to publicly comment about pending proceedings in any court.

MORE QUESTIONABLE CLA IMS

Statements Eagen makes in the ads that are either untrue or misleading include:

While Eagen claims in his advertisements that Bosha is lying about kicking back money, he omits the fact Bosha passed two lie-detector tests, including one administered by the state attorney generals office.

The ads portray James Rusnock, a Luzerne County man who says Bosha told him he lied about the kickbacks to get a better deal at his sentencing, as a courageous citizen.

The ads omit this fact: Rusnock has refused to take a lie-detector test.

ONE AD, MANY OMISSI ONS

One ad with a picture of the judge and his wife contains six more inaccurate, misleading or incomplete statements.

For one, it states the judge was never a personal friend of Bosha.

While they might not have been close personal friends, they certainly were long-time acquaintances.

They grew up together in South Scranton and played ball together. They taught together at Lackawanna Junior College and the former Northeast Institute of Education.

As a private attorney, Eagen represented the NIE and its president, Gregory Walker, a cousin of Bosha. Gregory Walker also is in jail for stealing from an estate during Eagens tenure as Orphans Court Judge.

Boshas insurance offices were located in the former NIE building.

The ad also says Eagen appointed Bosha to only seven guardianships.

Thats true.

But the judge also assigned Bosha to review virtually every guardianship a total of 53 that came before the court.

He provided Bosha with official-looking court stationery that listed the judges chambers in the Lackawanna County Courthouse as Boshas address.

And he made his chambers available for Bosha to conduct business.

Eagen says in the ad that he never suggested Bosha and attorney Ronald Worobey create a corporation to handle guardianships.

Both Bosha and Worobey independently have said Eagen encouraged them to form a corporation and gave them an article from a law magazine about guardianships being an up and coming business.

After Eagens advice, Bosha and Worobey did create the corporation.

During the period Bosha worked on guardianships for Eagens office, state requirements for supervision of his duties were met.

This is not true.

As required by state law, the judge directed Bosha to submit inventories and periodic accountings of the estates. The reports frequently were not submitted or were submitted late.

Those that were submitted were so vague and lacking in documentation they were virtually worthless to anyone trying to determine if the estates were being mismanaged.

The nature of Boshas thefts made them difficult or impossible to detect.

Thats true only because the accountings were not filed or were filed with vague information.

As judge, Eagen was responsible for ensuring the reports were filed in a complete and timely fashion,

Bosha stole from the estates by getting Worobey, who served as his counsel, to inflate bills for legal work he did on estates. Worobey then kicked back a portion of the overbillings to Bosha.

The overbillings, which amounted to thousands of dollars, eventually were discovered after federal, state and county investigators seized Bosha and Worobeys records and began questioning the legal bills.

Bosha also deceived other judges in Lackawanna and Wyoming counties.

Thats true, but it did not last long.

Shortly after Walsh, the president judge, removed Eagen as Orphans Court judge and assumed the duties himself, he questioned one of Worobeys legal bills.

As a result, Worobey began submitting more realistic bills for his work.

Barrasse does not expect the grand jury to take any formal action against the judge until after Tuesdays election in which Eagen is up for retention. Part of the reason for that, he said, is to avoid the appearance that the investigation is political.

It was a no-win situation because if I had not issued the formal notice the public would think I did so to avoid embarrassing the judge, Barrasse said.