Police sergeant traces Felasco's money trail

Police say they were initially investigating the deputy treasurer.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
FRANKLIN, Pa. -- While Lawrence County taxpayers saw a decrease in the amount of cash going into the general fund, Gary Felasco saw an increase in the amount of cash going into his personal bank account, according to testimony in his theft trial.
Pennsylvania State Police Sgt. Mark Noce testified at length on Wednesday that Felasco, the county's elected treasurer, deposited just over $20,000 cash into his private bank account from December 2001 to March 1, 2004. After that time -- when Felasco was removed as county tax claim director -- only about $1,000 cash was deposited throughout the rest of 2004, he said.
Noce's testimony wrapped up the prosecution's case in Felasco's theft trial. The defense is expected to start testimony today, and the jury may deliberate the case by Friday.
Noce testified that Felasco's deputy, Gloria Conti, was initially the focus of the investigation until Conti's attorney offered some details of what Conti knew in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
What records showed
Noce said he was able to verify Conti's contentions through records. They included cash payments for Felasco's cable bill, cash covering overdrafts in the treasurer's personal bank account and paying cash for two to three rooms almost weekly at the nearby Radisson Hotel in West Middlesex, Pa.
Noce spent most of the afternoon detailing cash deposits made to Felasco's personal bank account. The largest cash sum, $5,700, was made March 1, 2004.
Just a few days before that deposit, The Vindicator was the first to report that Felasco had not paid real estate taxes on his New Castle home since 2000. The house had escaped the yearly tax sale because improper court stays were put on the property. Shortly after The Vindicator broke the story, Felasco paid his taxes, $7,913.40.
It was only after county officials became aware that Felasco was a tax scofflaw that they fired him as county tax claim director, but they could not remove him from his elected post as treasurer.
County officials then started seeing a pattern of people who had paid their taxes but were receiving delinquent notices. Investigators contend that Felasco, through his deputy Conti, pilfered cash from his office and then substituted mailed checks to balance the daily receipts. Those who paid by check were never credited for tax payments but were later deleted from the county's list of delinquent taxpayers.
What happened
Police contend that Felasco was removed so quickly from the tax claim bureau that he could not delete the 39 taxpayers who were the basis for the investigation leading to the trial.
Noce said he took a sample of a three-month period -- October to December 2003 -- and discovered about $42,000 missing.
"The theory behind this theft is that you need access to the tax claim bureau. You must delete these taxpayers from the system," he said. The state police sergeant said they don't know who deleted the names.
The defense has tried to blame Conti. She testified Tuesday that Felasco threatened her job if she didn't help him take the money, but she says she did not delete anyone from the tax claim bureau computers.
Defense attorney Jim Ross scoffed at Conti's claim that Felasco ordered her to take $3,500 from the county vault and drive Felasco to a used-car dealership where he bought a 1990 Chevrolet conversion van.
Ross asked Noce why Felasco would buy a used $2,500 van if he was pilfering so much money.
"Fourty-four thousand dollars will buy you a Lexus, but [taking it] over a period of time will buy you a van," Noce said.