(AP) Monroe County's chief deputy coroner, who is the wife of Coroner Robert Allen, took the belongings of the dead, boasted of her extramarital affairs at work and changed payroll and overtime records to earn more money, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.

Lauren Fizz, who until recently was a deputy coroner in Monroe County, filed a civil rights suit late last week which claims she was fired from her job for reporting Kathleen "Traci" Allen's alleged misconduct.Reached for comment Tuesday at his county office, Robert Allen said the couple's lawyer advised them to decline comment.He referred questions to Stroudsburg attorney Scott Amori.Amori said in an email that he is the solicitor for the county coroner's office and likewise declined comment.Fizz also directed inquiries to her attorney, David L. Deratzian, of Bethlehem. Deratzian said his client tried to report the alleged misconduct but lost her job instead. Fizz was a deputy coroner from the summer of 2015 through to her firing this summer, according to the lawsuit.The newspaper's Right to Know law request seeking Kathleen Allen's employment information is pending. In the lawsuit, Fizz claims that, although Robert Allen is the elected coroner, his wife, Kathleen Allen, ran the office as the chief deputy coroner.Kathleen Allen created a "sexually hostile work environment," the suit alleges, by talking with co-workers about her extramarital affairs and, at some point, showing cellphone photographs of one lover's genitals.The lawsuit also accuses her of making "unilateral" changes to payroll and overtime records so she could earn more money than other deputy coroners and not following established procedure for handling the property of the deceased, such as prescription medication, and taking possession of it instead. It was unclear Tuesday if a law enforcement investigation was ever initiated over the claims.Asked this, Fizz again referred comment to her attorney. Deratzian declined to comment.Attempts to reach Monroe County First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso, as well as several officials at the Stroud Area Regional Police, were unsuccessful Tuesday.Chief Chris Wagner, of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department, said he was not aware of such a complaint made to his department.Trooper David Peters, a spokesman for the state police's Troop N, which covers Monroe County, also said the lawsuit's allegations are the first he has heard it. Kathleen Allen's alleged misconduct was possible with "the knowledge or willful ignorance" of her husband, the elected coroner, the lawsuit claims. On June 13, Kathleen Allen and an unnamed deputy coroner with whom the suit alleges she had an affair wanted Fizz fired, the suit claims, and falsely accused Fizz of having a sexual encounter with an unnamed police officer at an April 2016 death scene.Fizz filed a written complaint with the county human resources office on June 17, alleging some of the misconduct she raised later in her lawsuit. The county suspended Fizz without pay, according to the lawsuit and the minutes of the June 21 county commissioners meeting.She was the only coroner's office employee disciplined there, the records show. Available minutes from the next three board of commissioners meeting do not reflect disciplinary action on any county coroner employee until the Aug. 2 meeting, which recorded Fizz's termination. The suit seeks damages on several counts, including a violation of Pennsylvania's Whistleblower Law. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani in Scranton, who will conduct a case management conference within the next four months.