Auditors to examine records of treasurer

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Auditors are expected to begin looking next week at the records of Lawrence County Treasurer Gary Felasco.
On Tuesday, Lawrence County commissioners hired auditing firm Packer Thomas to look at tax records from March 1, 2000 to Sept. 30, 2003. The cost is not expected to exceed $22,000.
A previous audit by Packer Thomas looking at taxes paid from October 2003 to December 2003 revealed that more than $40,000 was missing. That audit is the basis for criminal charges of theft and embezzlement filed Sept. 7 against Felasco.
Prosecutors contend that Felasco was stealing the cash payments made to his office and then using checks sent by mail to make the daily receipts balance. Taxpayers whose checks were used were not marked paid and their taxes were sent to the county tax claim office as delinquent.
Felasco was head of the county tax claim bureau until early 2004, when commissioners removed him after learning he had not paid his own property taxes for four years.