Granting Felasco parole would prove crime pays

Before a state parole officer meets this month with former Lawrence County Treasurer Gary Felasco to determine if he should be released from prison, we would hope the official conducts a thorough review of the Felasco case.
If he or she does, we are cautiously optimistic that parole will be denied. We use the word cautiously because, to date we, have been unpleasantly surprised by the kid-glove treatment Felasco has received from the criminal justice system.
Rather than being sentenced to five to 10 years in prison for theft, embezzlement, conflict of interest and misapplication of entrusted property of government or financial institutions, the former treasurer was sent away for one to seven years. And, rather than receive the maximum 10 years behind bars that we believe was justified, he is now in line for parole.
If the parole officer wants to find out what has occurred since the treasurer's abuse of his public position was first revealed by The Vindicator in the fall of 2005, the newspaper's on line archive (www.Vindy.com) contains numerous stories with all the sordid details.
Light sentence
In an editorial last year bemoaning the light sentence handed down by Visiting Judge Michael Wherry, we offered this observation:
"For almost three years, we have watched this sordid affair unfold, have witnessed the arrogance of this individual whom the voters so trusted that they elected him to three terms in office, and have seen him feign remorse only after he realized he had spit the hook with the prison sentence handed down by Judge Wherry."
And we added this: "Felasco says he hopes to become a productive member of society. To which we say, hold on to your wallets."
Speaking of wallets, a month after he received the tap on the wrist, Felasco dropped his Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which he had filed in 2005. During the criminal trial, it was revealed that more than 100,000 was missing from the county's treasury during Felasco's tenure in office. The judge ordered him to pay triple restitution, which with fees amounts to more than 500,000.
Does anyone doubt that his withdrawal of bankruptcy was tied to the sentence he received -- given the possibility of parole within one year? Had he had the book thrown at him, we have no doubt that he would have pursued bankruptcy, thus forcing the commissioners to try to retrieve the money from the bonding company that insured him through his county pension fund.
It is noteworthy that public dollars are used to secure bonds for officeholders and certain other government employees.
When you look at Felasco's history as an officeholder and consider that in 2005 The Vindicator revealed that he had not paid property taxes on his home since 2000, even though he was in charge of delinquency tax collections in Lawrence County, you have to conclude that he is a pariah of the worst sort.
A scant year in prison would prove that crime does pay for some.