LAWRENCE COUNTY Treasurer's rival turns up dirt

The paralegal intends to run for county treasurer in the next election.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- When Susan Bongivengo challenged Gary Felasco for treasurer of Lawrence County in 2003, she never thought to check to see if he was paying his property taxes.
It wasn't until a good six months after losing her bid for the Democratic party's nomination for treasurer that a persistent acquaintance urged her to look into the treasurer's tax records.
A title searcher and paralegal by profession, Bongivengo, 58, of New Castle, was surprised by what she found.
"Not only were the taxes not paid, but there were court stays on his property," she said. The courts can "stay" or exempt a person from paying their taxes for a limited time for certain legal reasons.
She then checked court records and found that Felasco had not been granted any stays through the courts.
Probe expands
With the help of another friend, Bongivengo returned to the county recorder's office and started looking up the names of acquaintances and friends of the treasurer in the county computer system.
She eventually turned up more people with unpaid taxes and improper court stays on their land.
It was that information first gathered by Bongivengo that set off the string of events that led to the criminal charges filed against Felasco last week by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office.
Felasco, 38, a three-term treasurer, is accused of embezzlement, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, misapplication of entrusted property of government or financial institutions and two counts of conflict of interest.
Police contend he took more than $44,000 from his office for personal use.
Had no idea
But Bongivengo couldn't have imagined those allegations when she started looking into Felasco's taxes in February of 2004.
"I had all this information and I didn't know what to do with it. Obviously, I didn't want to keep it to myself, so I went to my son, the attorney," she said.
Bongivengo's son, John, was an assistant district attorney in Lawrence County at that time.
"I just told her that the information was something that needed to go to the county commissioners. It's ultimately the county's money and they are in charge of it," said John Bongivengo, who is the Democratic Party's nominee for county district attorney in the November general election. He is seeking the office being vacated by Matthew Mangino, who is running for common pleas court judge.
With her son's guidance, Susan Bongivengo met the next day with Commissioner Dan Vogler.
Vogler, who had been in office only two months, appeared to be shocked, Bongivengo said. He quickly advised her to relay the information to Commissioner Steve Craig. Commissioner Ed Fosnaught was out of town, she said.
Vogler credits Bongivengo's actions with starting the chain of events that led to the criminal charges.
"In light of where we are today, it has led us to the filing of very serious criminal charges," Vogler said. "It leads me to wonder where would be today if that had not occurred. Is it possible these alleged activities that led to the alleged theft charges, could that have continued for a period of time if these stays had not been discovered? I would submit that possibly this could have gone on longer than it did if the stays were not found."
Shortly after commissioners were informed, The Vindicator published the first story about Felasco's not paying his taxes and the stays on the land. Other stories followed the next day on television and other newspapers.
That following week, commissioners removed Felasco as the county tax claim director.
"We concluded that what appeared to have been done with these delinquent properties was serious enough that it warranted his removal. It raised a lot of questions in our minds," Vogler said.
They closed the tax claim office and asked the district attorney to look into the matter.
Offered free services
Felasco had been in charge of the tax claim bureau since 2000 when he went to the previous board of county commissioners and offered to run the office for no extra pay.
Pennsylvania State Police now believe Felasco operated a scheme in which he did not record cash payments made to the county treasurer's office, but deposited the money into his private bank account. Those taxpayers would later turn up as delinquent in the tax claim bureau, and Felasco would delete their files from the computer system, court papers said.
But Felasco's quick removal as tax claim bureau director led the new director to discover a poor record-keeping system. The county then hired a forensic auditor to check it all out, Vogler said.
That next spring, several people who had proof they paid their taxes were sent notices that they were delinquent; that helped uncover the scheme, court papers said.
Felasco is scheduled to appear in Lawrence County Central Court this week for a preliminary hearing on the charges. He has refused comment on the matter.
Late last week, commissioners voted to withhold his pay until the outcome of the criminal charges.
Will fight it
Felasco's attorney Ed Leymarie of Ellwood City said the treasurer will fight that action.
"He is presumed innocent until proven guilty. They have no authority under law to freeze his pay," Leymarie said.
Bongivengo said in light of the new allegations, she will definitely run for county treasurer again. Felasco's term ends in 2008.
"I knew something was wrong [in that office], but I had no idea how bad things were or how much was happening," she said. Bongivengo said that after turning the initial information over to commissioners, she was not involved or informed of the police investigation
Bongivengo said she would also like to be considered for appointment to the post by the governor if Felasco is removed from office before his term ends.
"When I challenged him to run, I had known him for many, many years. I knew the kind of person he was and I just felt he should not be in that office. I tried as best I could to convince people it was time for a change," she said.
Felasco has been in office for three terms. Before that, he had served a term on the New Castle school board and owned a used car lot on Moravia Street.
"I'm hoping to restore some faith in government," Bongivengo said. "Me, personally, I just felt that [turning the information to commissioners] was something I had to do. I didn't feel I had a choice in the matter."
cioffi@vindy.com