The newest complaint alleges that a female court employee "observed sexual contact between Judge Powers and another employee,'' Warren County Commissioner Pat South said Friday.

That allegation came just hours before Warren County Commissioners said Thursday that Warren County Judge James J. Heath would immediately assume Powers' duties while an investigation into the sexual-harassment claims and concerns about overtime pay accrued by one court employee continues.

Powers, 70, has been out of the office since the allegations were raised and the investigation began, but earlier this week, he said he planned to be back to work Tuesday.

But South said Friday that Powers relinquished his duties as administrative judge and indicated that he would not return to work while the investigation proceeds.

Powers, who has not been charged with a crime, has declined to comment. But his lawyer, John D. Smith, has said: "We're aware of an investigation. ... I have never been told, and neither has Dallas, what the allegations are."

South has said two women - including the woman who filed the most-recent allegation - have complained that in separate incidents, they witnessed the judge and another court employee engaged in sexual contact.

Both encounters are alleged to have occurred in court offices and with the same employee, South said.

At least one of those women said what she saw and the way in which Powers talked to her "have made her extremely uncomfortable in the workplace," South said.

A third employee, currently on an indefinite leave of absence, accused Powers of coercing her into sexual contact in his chambers. The date and nature of that alleged contact was unclear Friday.

In reporting the allegation, Judge Heath wrote: ".. a third member of the county court staff spoke to me and has now provided several allegations of potential misconduct involving Judge Powers, which she observed.''

After the first complaint was lodged Aug. 30, Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel, citing a conflict of interest, asked Adams County Prosecutor David Kelley to begin an investigation. Kelley will turn over his findings to the Ohio Attorney General's Office. That office then will decide whether criminal, civil or other action is appropriate, South said.

Investigators have said they are looking at several things related to Powers and his office, including commissioners' concerns about how Libbie Gerondale, a probation officer, amassed more than 400 hours of overtime pay from January through August. Her overtime is quadruple the total amount paid to her three co-workers, records show.

Gerondale's lawyer, Bill Kaufman, has said his client's overtime was legitimate. She reported to work at 6 a.m. Saturdays to track down people who owed fines or court costs, Kaufman said.

The Ohio Attorney General's Office has also been asked to investigate Powers. But a spokesman for that office declined to disclose the scope of that investigation, which will be done by the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

At the same time, commissioners placed Common Pleas Clerk of Courts Jim Spaeth in charge of the county court clerks as well. Previously, they reported to Powers in his capacity as the administrative judge. Spaeth spent much of Friday in individual, private meetings with staff members who formerly answered to Powers.

Spaeth declined to comment about those meetings but said he wanted to meet everyone and listen to any job-related concerns.

He added that the situation felt "somewhat uncomfortable" for him, both because of the nature of the allegations against Powers and also because Powers had supported Spaeth's political campaign when he was first elected in 1996.

Spaeth said he didn't socialize with Powers. "My only dealings with him have been professional," he said.

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E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com