Problems mount for treasurer

Felasco is more than $8,000 in arrears on his home mortgage payment.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County's embattled treasurer can now add bankruptcy to his list of legal woes.
The Lawrence County Prothonotary's office received notification this past week that Gary Felasco had filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh on Oct. 15.
The bankruptcy proceedings will temporarily stall a civil court action filed by Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization LLC, a company foreclosing on Felasco's home mortgage, according the county sheriff's office.
Bankruptcy Court papers listed Felasco's assets at $93,780 and his liabilities at $86,751.83.
Felasco, who is in his third term as treasurer, was arrested Sept. 7 by Pennsylvania State Police and charged with theft, embezzlement, misapplication of entrusted property and two counts of violating the state ethics code. He is accused of taking more than $40,000 from his office.
The criminal investigation began in 2004 after The Vindicator first reported that Felasco had not paid property taxes on his Cunningham Avenue home since 2000 and improper court stays were placed on the property, allowing it to avoid a tax sale for delinquents.
Lawrence County commissioners immediately removed Felasco from his appointed post as county Tax Claim Bureau director after learning he had not paid his taxes, but could not remove him from his elected post as treasurer.
Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew Mangino, however, is trying to remove Felasco from his elected post and has filed a civil lawsuit contending the treasurer has abandoned and absconded from his office.
When the district attorney filed the lawsuit in August, he contended that Felasco had not appeared for work in months and was living with his wife, Jeanine, in Ashtabula, Ohio.
Felasco has denied both the criminal and civil allegations. He has said he is living in his New Castle home while his wife and children have moved to Ohio. Felasco filed for divorce on April 13, just weeks after their mortgage company filed for foreclosure on their Cunningham Avenue home on March 29.
Assets, debts
Court papers filed in Bankruptcy Court state that Felasco is $8,765 in arrears on his $520 monthly mortgage payment.
In addition to his home, Felasco lists a Coachman Trailer on which he owes $9,802 and a 1999 Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle, which has an outstanding loan of $4,963, as his assets.
His listed debts include $2,000 in back taxes owed to the Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau and $11,964.83 in credit card debt and medical bills, according to court papers.
Felasco refused to comment on his bankruptcy, directing all questions to his bankruptcy attorney, Jason Mazzei of Pittsburgh. Mazzei did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Felasco has been ordered through Bankruptcy Court to pay $1,282 per month to his debtors through a trustee over the next five years.
cioffi@vindy.com