A Pennsylvania district judge has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing money from his court office and from a fire department where he served as treasurer.
Berks County Magisterial District Judge Timothy Dougherty pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft by unlawful taking and misapplication of trusted property.
Other theft counts and charges of conflict of interest and receiving stolen property were dismissed.
Prosecutors say the judge stole more than $15,000 from his court office in West Reading, which collects fines and court costs.
They say he also stole nearly $98,000 from the Wyomissing Volunteer Fire Company, where he served as treasurer.
Authorities say none of the money stolen from the fire organization, which came mostly from donations, has been recovered.
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2 comments:
At my place of work one woman was always taking up collections for anyone who had a death in the family, weddings, births and so on.
On woman gave birth to twins and nearly everyone donated. Several weeks later I asked the new mother what she bought with the money and she said she never received and money. We estimated nearly $200.00 had been donated. It seems hardly anyone ever received any of the money donated and it turns out the money went to feed the gambling, lottery, keno habit of the woman collecting the money. Be very suspicious of a person who always seems to be the one doing the collection for the cause of the moment.
Anyone can be tempted to take money that is not theirs, especially over a period of time. And they always justify it to themselves. At first, they might say, it's just a loan I will repay it and no one will know. Then, after awhile, they can't repay it. So they think of new justifications. I'm underpaid so I deserve this money, and 99 other reasons they think up to feel no remorse for stealing money that does not belong to them.
Maybe there should be term limits for anyone to handle monies. Maybe there should be periodic audits to avoid people from stealing. Obviously, there are some that do not have the moral fortitude or willpower to resist such temptation.
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