BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – It wasn’t unusual for Al Dirschberger, the Erie County’s Commissioner of Social Services, to travel as part of his job. It wasn’t unusual for him to travel with colleagues and subordinates.

But he was ordered to turn in his resignation — and he did so — Thursday, after a business trip to Albany Dec. 5-6 led to “multiple violations of county policy” and a criminal investigation into allegations of rape.

“I am very disappointed,” said County Executive Mark Poloncarz. “I am angry, to put it mildly, with this entire situation because this is not something you should have to deal with. But once we had a problem, we moved to deal with it.”

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says he moved swiftly after learning Dec. 23 about a criminal investigation against Dirschberger. Poloncarz said he reached out to a detective with the Albany Police Department, who told him then Dirschberger was the subject of that investigation.

Dirschberger resigned Thursday, upon request by Poloncarz, following an internal investigation into what Poloncarz described as “multiple violations of county policy.”

Poloncarz said he led a conference call with Dirschberger, who said he couldn’t come to The Rath Building Thursday because he was out of the area.

“I asked him specific questions with regard to his conduct,” Poloncarz said. “Based on his responses, I believe he violated multiple county policies and asked him to resign, which he did verbally over the phone.”

Dirschberger later sent an email, and said he was resigning due to “personal reasons.”

That’s the reason county officials gave Thursday afternoon when asked about the resignation. But within hours, many more details were revealed during a press conference.

While Poloncarz and his administration said they had no knowledge of charges being filed against Dirschberger, a senior law enforcement official in Albany told News 4 that rape charges had been filed against Dirschberger Thursday afternoon.

“Because of the seriousness of this matter, I was not going to wait to see if the Albany PD was going to empanel a grand jury, or arrest him at a later date,” Poloncarz said. “I felt it was important that we move internally to do an internal investigation.”

Dirschberger, who was appointed by Poloncarz in 2015, regularly traveled on behalf of the county, and was in the state capital on Dec. 6, when law enforcement sources said the incident allegedly happened.

Poloncarz said the county policy violations involved a subordinate member of Dirschberger’s staff.

He declined to say what those violations were, adding that he didn’t want to interfere with the criminal investigation.

“If Mr. Dirschberger broke the law he needs to be held responsible,” Poloncarz said. “But that’s for the Albany County District Attorney’s Office and the people of the state of New York to make that determination.”

County Legislative Majority Leader Joe Lorgio said Poloncarz didn’t act quickly enough, given the seriousness of situation.

“The questions remain, when did the county executive know what did he know and why did it take so long to take action,” Lorigo said. “By his own admission, he knew on Saturday. Today’s Thursday. What was going on on Tuesday and Wednesday? Why wasn’t this taken care of?”

Poloncarz emphasized Dirschberger’s resignation will not affect the day-to-day operations of the Department of Social Services.

First Deputy Commissioner Marie Cannon will serve as acting commissioner until a permanent replacement is found.

A search for his replacement will begin in early 2018.

#BREAKING: #News4 has confirmed that Al Dirschberger resigned as Commissioner of Social Services today. Dep Comm Marie Cannon will take his place on interim basis. @news4buffalo pic.twitter.com/KvDt5N5BiI– Dave Greber (@DaveGreber4) December 28, 2017

We’ll have more information as it becomes available.