STATE COLLEGE, PA. Worker stole 'staggering' amount, state says

The woman used PennDOT funds as her 'personal bank account,' the attorney general said.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Describing the thefts as "staggering" and "incomprehensible," Attorney General Jerry Pappert charged a former purchasing agent for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation with stealing more than $123,000 dollars and making an additional$176,000 in unauthorized purchases using PennDOT accounts.
Tina A. Smith, 48, was charged Wednesday with 27 counts of access device fraud, tampering with public records, forgery, bribery and assorted theft charges. All but two of the charges were felonies, and each carried a minimum of a five-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.
Smith refused to comment after her preliminary arraignment before a district justice in Bellefonte. Her attorney, Kathleen Yurchak, said they had not had time to review the criminal complaint.
What's alleged
Court documents allege Smith:
UAdded her name to dozens of PennDOT vendor and refund checks worth more than $91,000, then deposited them into her personal accounts.
UUsed a PennDOT credit card to buy almost $18,000 in Wal-Mart gift cards, which she used to buy two televisions, a computer, clothes, prescription drugs and pet food.
UPaid her personal bills with the PennDOT card, including more than $3,500 in electric bills, $2,900 for fuel oil, $2,500 in cable bills and $2,500 in phone bills.
UBought more than $2,200 worth of merchandise from Office Depot with her PennDOT card, then returned it and deposited refunds into her personal accounts.
UStole two Nextel mobile phones, which she used, generating more than $800 in charges to PennDOT.
"This is a state employee who, as you can see, is using her position and the PennDOT purchasing card as her own personal bank account," Pappert said.
Toner travesty
Smith also is accused of buying more than $167,000 in toner from two California companies, even though her office had just one copier, which was under contract for maintenance and toner supply. Each purchase was kept under $3,000, the limit for an order made on a PennDOT credit card.
"According to multiple PennDOT employees ... the toner accumulated so heavily that, at one point, a front-end loader was backed up to the office area, cases of it were loaded into the bucket and dumped in the garage," the charging affidavit said. "Also, garbage bags of it were, intermittently, thrown out. It is estimated that $50,000 worth of toner is still in the Bellefonte PennDOT basement."
Smith allegedly told investigators that she received no kickbacks from the toner purchases. But investigators said she did receive kickbacks, in the form of restaurant gift cards, for buying more than $8,600 in cleaning products from a Florida-based Stone Cold Chemicals. Some products bought from Stone Cold cost 16 times more than prices guaranteed in other state contracts.
Stone Cold arrests
Executives from Stone Cold Chemicals were arrested last fall by authorities in Georgia and Florida and charged with bribing state and local government workers to buy millions of dollars worth of products.
Pappert said Stone Cold Chemicals and the toner suppliers also were under investigation. There was no answer at Stone Cold's Florida phone number, and its Georgia phone number was disconnected.
Smith was suspended from her job in April and fired in July.