Former treasurer requests parole

A decision will be made two to three weeks after the ex-treasurer meets with the parole board.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Former Lawrence County Treasurer Gary Felasco is on the docket to meet with a parole officer next month at the State Corrections Institute at Albion.
State parole officials say it's not a guarantee that his request for parole will be considered, but it will likely happen.
Felasco, 39, went to state prison last August after being convicted at trial of theft and embezzlement from his elected office. The judge determined that more than 100,000 was missing from the county's tax coffers during Felasco's three terms in office.
He was sentenced to one to seven years in state prison, and the judge ordered he pay triple the restitution. With fees and restitution, he is responsible to pay more than 500,000.
Next month will be his first attempt at release from prison.
Pennsylvania Probation and Parole Board spokesman Nate Bortner said inmates up for parole have the opportunity to request one of the state's eight parole board members meet with them or meet with a hearing examiner, who is a paid member of the board's staff.
Procedure for parole
If Felasco requests a parole board member, his hearing could be delayed beyond April, Bortner said. Former Lawrence County District Attorney Matt Mangino was recently appointed to the parole board but would likely not be involved in Felasco's hearing because of his ties to the county.
Though Felasco will meet with one person, it will take the vote of two people to approve his parole, Bortner said. Those votes could be two board members or a board member and a hearing examiner, he said.
According the state parole board Web site, parole board members will look at the nature and circumstances of the crime, as well as an inmate's criminal history, character, background, health, notes of testimony of the sentencing hearing and the recommendation of the sentencing judge and prosecuting attorney.
They also consider input from the victim.
In this case, two of the three Lawrence County commissioners have said they will write the parole board requesting Felasco not be released at his minimum sentence.
County residents as victims
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo, who did not handle Felasco's prosecution, said because the crime involved tax dollars, he believes anyone from the county could be considered a victim and could write to the parole board concerning Felasco.
"If they got thousands of letters from people in Lawrence County [opposing his release], they would have to seriously consider them," he said.
Based on past parole board actions, Felasco's chances for parole on his first try appear good because his crime did not involve violence, and it was his first offense.
According to Bortner, 78 percent of nonviolent offenders were paroled at their minimum in 2005, which is the most recent year for which the board has data..And Felasco's one-to-seven-year sentence appears to be far greater than the average one given to others in the state who were convicted of the same charge.
Joan Lisle of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing said in 2000, the most recent year the agency has data compiled, only three people were convicted of theft by failure to make required disposition, the most serious charge lodged against Felasco.
One person got a jail sentence of six to 23 months in county prison, and the other two were sentenced to an average of 7 1/2 months of restrictive intermediate punishment, which could have included electronic monitoring or probation, she said.
The commission is now compiling sentencing data through 2006, but it won't be available until June. She said it appears, though, that average sentences for those convicted of theft by failure to make required disposition have not changed much since 2000.
If Felasco is granted parole, he won't be released until his sentencing anniversary date on Aug. 1, Bortner said.
But a decision on whether his parole is granted will be known two to three weeks after he meets with someone from the board, Bortner said.
Release from prison won't mean the former treasurer will be unsupervised. The sentencing judge ordered Felasco remain on parole through 2013, or it be served concurrent to his time in prison. And he is still required to pay more than 500,000 to the county and the state attorney general's office, who handled the prosecution.
County officials have already recovered about 100,000 from a bonding company that covered the county treasurer's office. Another 87,000 from his pension was seized as well.