ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio -- Recipe for scandal, Ohio Valley style: One glitzy Hollywood star and her Broadway star husband. The surrogate mother who was carrying their twins. Two small-town police chiefs, who, according to prosecutors, had inquiring minds, itchy fingers and trouble keeping their mouths shut.

Oh, and supermarket tabloids that either were or were not willing to pay big money for a little dirt.

All of these volatile ingredients come together tomorrow in a courtroom in this placid east Ohio town 90 minutes west of Pittsburgh, when suspended Martins Ferry police Chief Barry Carpenter goes on trial on charges that in May he burglarized the home of Michelle Ross. The 26-year-old surrogate mother, hired by "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband, Matthew Broderick, gave birth to the couple's twin daughters June 23.

Authorities have said Mr. Carpenter and suspended Bridgeport police Chief Chad Dojack -- who is to be tried separately in January -- conspired to sell items and information obtained from Ms. Ross' home in Martins Ferry to an unnamed tabloid. Charges were dropped against a third man, Bruce Callarik, who will be called as a witness in the trial of Mr. Carpenter, who has been suspended without pay. Mr. Dojack has been suspended with pay.

Other details remain sketchy, however, despite intense media interest in the case -- Prosecutor Shawn Hervey told local reporters that he'd been contacted by more than 30 national news organizations after a grand jury issued indictments July 29.

So far, though, Mr. Hervey -- brought on as a special prosecutor from neighboring Harrison County after the Belmont County prosecutor recused himself -- has been tight-lipped. He did not return phone calls from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Attorneys for the defendants also did not return calls.

The burglary of Ms. Ross's home occurred "on or about May 13," according to the indictments. But it's not clear when or how the burglary occurred or what was taken. While Mr. Carpenter is charged with receiving stolen property, it's not known whether anything belonging to Ms. Ross was ever sold.

Still the story has entertained, titillated and disgusted residents of the close-knit towns of Martins Ferry, Bridgeport and Wheeling, W.Va., in this economically depressed region of the Ohio Valley.

"I think it's ridiculous," said Samantha Lucas, sitting on a stool in the parking lot of the Sonny Boy Restaurant in Bridgeport, where she works the lunch shift as a server.

Mr. Carpenter was well known throughout the Ohio Valley as "a nice guy, funny, but kind of a goofball," she said.

"He came in here about a month before he was arrested, bragging that someone had come to him about getting stuff from this woman's house," recalled Jessica Hilton, a salesperson at Sun Video on Martins Ferry's main street.

She said Mr. Carpenter told her, however, that he would never do such a thing, "because he said he'd lose his job. Then a month later, it all comes out, he gets arrested. ... It's too bad, he's a nice guy, with a nice family."

Mr. Dojack seems somewhat less popular.

"He puts his nose where it don't belong," said Deborah Smith, a clerk at A-1 Auto Sales in Bridgeport, who was still chafing about a phone call she once received from Mr. Dojack inquiring about an automobile repossession in Martins Ferry.

"It wasn't his business," she said. "I'm pretty disgusted that this is what we get put on the map for."

As is often the case in small-town sagas, the web of relationships is complicated. Mr. Dojack is the son-in-law of Bruce Callarik, whose father, John Callarik, is the mayor of Bridgeport. None returned calls for comment.

Little is known about Ms. Ross, the surrogate mother. Her MySpace.com page -- which provided much fodder for the tabloids, even before the burglary was alleged to have taken place -- has been taken down.

She has moved to Florida but she's expected to return to testify in the case. She could not be reached for comment. Ms. Parker and Mr. Broderick are not expected to testify, but earlier this year issued a statement saying they were confident the case was being handled properly.

Others have shrugged off this particular police scandal, noting that numerous officers in the region have been in trouble with the law for more serious offenses.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said David Blomquist, a news talk radio host for WWVA in Wheeling, W.Va., who first reported that the two police officers were being investigated in May.

He rattled off a list of law enforcement officials in nearby counties in West Virginia and Ohio who have been arrested or investigated for wrongdoing in recent months. It included: longtime Noble County sheriff Landon Smith, who resigned in May amid charges of nepotism and conflict of interest; and Special Agent James Sirbaugh, of Wheeling, from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who was charged with brandishing weapons and slashing his wife's tires in a domestic standoff that led to several homes being evacuated and attracted more than a dozen police units in August.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation has compiled 50 separate investigative reports while investigating the burglary. Mr. Hervey has filed court papers indicating he will call at least 28 witnesses to testify.

"They know this is a case that can make a career and make a department," said Mr. Blomquist. "If we weren't talking about two Hollywood stars I don't think this would be a blip on the radar."

There's still one very large unanswered question hanging over the case: Just which tabloid was willing to pay for information about Ms. Ross?

One of those subpoenaed to testify as a prosecution witness is David Perel, former editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, who now oversees the Web site Radaronline.com, operated by the Enquirer's parent company.

Mr. Perel didn't return a call for comment, but the Enquirer denies any involvement in the case and in the summer sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mr. Blomquist, when he suggested on the air -- quoting Mr. Carpenter -- that it had been involved.

Steve Plamann, an editor with the Enquirer, said the Florida-based tabloid not only had no involvement in the story but has no plans to cover the trial.

"We don't think it rates very high on the scandal meter," Mr. Plamann said.

Perhaps, but Alice Alexander, a 53-year-old health care worker, hopes prosecutors pursue stiff sentences for Mr. Carpenter and Mr. Dojack if they are found guilty.

"They should be prosecuted to the extent of the law," said Ms. Alexander, 53, of Bridgeport. "They're supposed to preserve and protect you."

"I think it is obviously embarrassing for this region on the heels of everything else that has transpired," said Mr. Blomquist, who says allegations of police corruption are rarely investigated by local newspapers or television.

"It's frustrating because if the media held elected officials to a higher standard, we'd have better people in public office, but it's so friendly around here, nobody wants to make anybody mad. And frankly, that kind of attitude leads to exactly these kinds of shenanigans."

Mackenzie Carpenter's video program, "Omnivore," is available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.