Dyan Neary

Apart from the money, Mark also crunched the state's annual data on child abuse allegations.

And what he saw when he compared the Lehigh Valley to the rest of the state was striking.

A third of the state's cases of Munchausen by proxy, a third of those diagnoses in all of Pennsylvania, had come from the Lehigh Valley region.

The numbers were small overall, but still, that high percentage made no sense to him, especially since the region is home to just 3% of the state's under-18 population.

He contacted each of them repeatedly, trying to set up meetings.

Most of the commissioners avoided him.

Some agreed to talk.

He said he told them about the crazy high Munchausen stat, and that if Munchausen syndrome was being misdiagnosed, he thought there was certainly cause to investigate that.

And all of it, aside from being wrong and damaging to families, could open up the county to lawsuits, since CYS is the agency responsible for removing the kids.

Mark says some of them were willing to listen, but none was willing to take action.

He even offered to put them directly in touch with some of the families.

They declined.

On top of that, Mark says he contacted the county directors of CYS and the Department of Human Services.

I contacted county officials, including the chair of the commissioners, to hear their version of events.

In response, I received an email from the county's attorney, saying that unfortunately, they couldn't discuss any matters involving the Office of Children and Youth due to legal concerns.

Ditto the county directors of CYS and the Department of Human Services.

Mark knew that publishing a report had the potential to tank his career.

It was an election year, and to voters, it might look like he was being an apologist for child abusers.

Members of his own staff suggested he wait until after the election to release it.

But Mark thought about how he'd feel if he held off and then wasn't re-elected.