A state board has disciplined a Blair County attorney by extending his probation through September 2027, after he failed to comply with probationary conditions imposed in December.

Matthew Paul Gieg, 44, who lists Altoona and Martinsburg addresses on records filed with the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, is expected to comply with ongoing treatment for alcoholism and provide the board with quarterly compliance reports.

The board’s latest ruling was issued Sept. 12 and indicates that Gieg’s probationary conditions are extended two years from the order’s date.

The ruling followed a recommendation by Gaetan J. Alfano, designated member of the disciplinary board, made in July based on his examination of Gieg’s violations.

“There is no factual dispute in this matter,” Alfano concluded in his recommendation. “(Gieg) admits that he violated his probation through his use of alcohol, failure to communicate with his sobriety monitor, failure to file quarterly reports to the board, conviction of summary harassment on April 9, 2025, and arrest for DUI and other charges on April 20, 2025, that resulted in the (Blair County) ARD order of July 1, 2025.”

Alfano, after convening a hearing, found that Gieg initially complied with the December order requiring abstention from alcohol use, then relapsed in March.

On April 20, 2025, Martinsburg borough police charged Gieg with DUI and related traffic offenses, plus three counts of simple assault, three counts of harassment, strangulation and related offenses in connection with a domestic dispute.

In his order, Alfano noted that the family members involved in the domestic dispute supported Gieg’s entry into the county’s ARD program to address the misdemeanor and summary offenses. On July 1, Senior Judge Richard Lewis of Dauphin County, presiding in Blair County court, approved Gieg’s entry into the ARD program, an action that put his charges on hold for two years while Gieg is supervised by the county’s Adult Parole and Probation Office. ARD conditions include abstention from alcohol use, compliance with random tests for alcohol use, the filing of monthly reports with the parole and probation office and completion of an anger management program.

Alfano’s recommendation also recognized that Gieg, following his April 20 arrest, took affirmative steps to re-commit himself to sobriety under the care of his primary care physician and treatment providers.

When the state disciplinary board’s put Gieg on probation for two years in December, that was done with Gieg’s consent. It also put a hold on the board’s suspension of Gieg’s law license for one year plus a day to address violations of professional conduct that clients in three legal matters, including two divorce cases, reported in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Alfano mentioned in his recommendation that Gieg’s probationary status allows him to continue practicing law, subject to the imposed conditions. He also said that an increase in probationary time would address Gieg’s non-compliance and allow him the opportunity to pursue full compliance.

“(This is) with the understanding that any further violation of these terms and conditions may subject him to revocation of his probation and immediate suspension,” Alfano wrote.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.