Embattled Pleasant Hills District Judge Mary Grace Boyle has cleaned out her office and told her staff and another district judge that she resigned from office as of today, though no county or state agency has received official notification.

"We didn't get anything officially," said Senior District Judge Edward Burnett, whom Judge Boyle told Monday of her resignation. "There's no letter or anything. The [Allegheny County] court administrators have not come out and said anything. [Judge Boyle] just told me she's done."

Judge Boyle, 56, of Jefferson Hills, could not be reached yesterday for comment.

Ray Billotte, the county's court administrator, said neither he nor Common Pleas President Judge Joseph James had received notification of Judge Boyle's resignation.

Elected officials are required to first notify the governor's office of a resignation, but Gov. Ed Rendell's office had not received any word as of yesterday, said Kate Philips, the governor's spokeswoman.

Police chiefs in the three municipalities that compose Judge Boyle's magisterial district, Jefferson Hills, Pleasant Hills and South Park, each said yesterday they first heard Monday the same rumors about Judge Boyle's impending resignation, but they received no independent confirmation.

"I heard the rumors and, obviously, there's some substance to it," Pleasant Hills Police Chief Floyd Nevling said.

Jefferson Hills Police Chief Jack Maple, who has been with his department for 40 years, said he admired Judge Boyle's work on the bench and was sad to see her go.

"It's a shame because she was a good magistrate," Chief Maple said. "She tried to help a lot of people. Mary Grace was outspoken, and I think that may have caused her some problems with people Downtown."

Judge Boyle is under investigation by the state Judicial Conduct Board for reportedly using her office and staff last year in her successful campaign for re-election to a fifth six-year term. The resignation of a district judge does not preclude the board from filing charges, said Joseph Massa Jr., the board's chief counsel.

"It does not prohibit us from filing charges nor does it prevent the [Court of Judicial Discipline] from imposing sanctions," said Mr. Massa, who declined to acknowledge the investigation into Judge Boyle.

On Monday, the court took under advisement sanctions in the case of former Beaver County District Judge Joseph Zupsic, who after he left office was charged with misconduct in five separate cases, Mr. Massa said.

Since October, Judge Burnett has been hearing all new cases filed in Judge Boyle's magisterial district. Judge Burnett initially took over when Judge Boyle took what court officials have described as a last-minute 30-day vacation in October. He has been reappointed to hear new cases each month since then, including the month of March.

At the beginning of November, Judge James issued an order that kept Judge Boyle off the bench for new cases and instead required her to clean up a substantial backlog of old cases and filing fees. Judge James called the backlog of cases and filing fees a "breakdown of the administrative function" of Judge Boyle's court.

Thousands of cases, some dating to the mid-1990s, were never adjudicated. Defendants in many of the cases had paid filing fees that were never disbursed, either to the defendant in the event of a not-guilty verdict or to the state or county if the defendant was found guilty.

The filing fee backlog, which totaled about $170,000, was kept in an escrow account at a PNC Bank branch near Judge Boyle's office, Judge Burnett said. None of the money was missing, but the problem was that the money remained in the account well past the three-year limit for traffic and summary offenses. Judge Boyle's office staff and workers from the court administrator's office have worked for the past few months to clear the backlog.

A vacancy in Judge Boyle's office would be filled by a candidate recommended by Mr. Rendell and approved by a simple majority of the state Senate. The appointee would serve in Judge Boyle's stead until the next municipal and judicial elections in November 2007, said Art Heinz, spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts in Mechanicsburg.