SUNBURY — The fate of a city bar investigated after numerous community and police complaints may rest on whether the Northumberland County district attorney asks a judge to sanction Maggie Maloney’s.

Sgt. Jeff McGinness, of the state police liquor control enforcement unit at Montoursville, said Tuesday that Maggie Maloney’s was the focus of a six-month investigation after agents received complaints of noise and disorderly behavior at the 13 N. Fifth St. establishment.

No legal action as a result of the investigation has yet been taken, McGinness said. Maggie Maloney’s liquor license exists under the name H.R. Lee Corp.

The business was cited in July 2008 for allegedly allowing customers on March 15, 2008, to stay more than a half-hour after they were required by law to leave.

McGinness said the state Liquor Control Board’s completed investigation has been turned over to Northumberland County District Attorney Anthony Rosini.

Rosini would not confirm nor deny receiving the results of the investigation, nor would he or McGinness comment on specifics of the probe.

Sunbury police Chief Steven Mazzeo was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

Rosini will determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue court action against the bar and its owner, Chester Lee, to have the establishment determined a nuisance bar.

Repeated calls placed to the business went unanswered and a message left at Lee’s home went unreturned.

State statute dictates a business be closed for one year if declared a nuisance bar, as was the case with Kane’s Tavern, in Sunbury, in 2006 after allegations surfaced of drug activity inside the establishment.

But McGinness said other stipulations can be reached at the discretion of the court, as was the case recently with Par 3, in Coal Township. After numerous complaints from neighbors and police about noise and disorderly conduct at the bar, Northumberland County court ordered it closed by 11 p.m. from April 6 through April 5, 2010, and its jukebox volume set at a fixed level.

McGinness said it takes only one complaint to trigger an investigation by PLCB officials, and that business owners are made aware of the pending probe.

“I initiate immediately an investigation and most of the time my officers do undercover visits,” McGinness said.