The Schuylkill County District Attorney's Office has filed charges against a former Pottsville tax office clerk for allegedly stealing $1,805 while working for the city.
Donald E. Long, 37, of 64 Cherry St., Cressona, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.
The charges were filed by county Detective Martin Heckman at the office of Magisterial District Judge James K. Reiley, Pottsville.
Heckman charged Long with incidents that occurred while he was working in the tax office between March 15 and June 6.
In his affidavit of probable cause, Heckman said Long had been employed by the city since March 2006. His primary responsibility was to collect real estate and per capita taxes, garbage fees and general fund money that included parking ticket fines, tax certification fees and memo bill fees.
Heckman said these bills are usually paid in cash or check and often collected at the front desk of City Hall or received in the mail and then forwarded to the treasurer's office throughout the work week.
All the money received by Long and other tax clerks is then separated, placed in segregated accounts and deposited in the bank by a supervisor.
Heckman said Long was one of three receiving clerks and had his own drawer to secure the money until it is tabulated at the end of the work day and locked in a safe.
Heckman said that, on June 13, Long was on approved leave from work and his supervisor noticed his cash drawer was not reconciled since the previous week and he attempted to reconcile the drawer to make sure the funds were deposited in a timely manner. The supervisor found discrepancies in the drawer and started with the general fund, where she found that several tax collection fee checks did not have photocopies attached and no computer generated receipts, indicating the checks had not been entered into the computer system as tax collection fees, Heckman said.
The supervisor also found that cash receipts for parking tickets were $100 short and decided to reconcile the remaining two accounts, real estate/per capita and garbage fees, both of which balanced out, Heckman said.
When the supervisor contacted Long and questioned him about the money, Heckman said Long stated that he "borrowed" the money and intended to pay it back that day.
Treasurer Ellen Micka, along with the supervisor, went over all reconciliations since July 2012 and determined additional discrepancies in amounts ranging from as low as $20 to as high as $345, Heckman said.
In all, Heckman said there were 11 discrepancies found totaling the missing amount of $1,805.
Long will now have to appear for a preliminary hearing before Reiley in his Pottsville courtroom.
At a special meeting July 30, Pottsville city council unanimously fired Long.
"We're not saying he's guilty. We're saying he did not follow proper employment policies of the city. He violated employment practices of the city and that's what resulted in his firing. Guilt or innocence is a determination for the courts, not for city council," said Councilman Michael P. Halcovage, head of the city finance committee, according to newspaper archives.