Preliminary hearing for former director of sewage authortiy continued
CONNELLSVILLE – A preliminary hearing for the former executive director of the Bullskin Township/Connellsville Township Joint Sewerage Authority charged with stealing more than $140,000 from the authority has been continued until next month. Carl Paul Lewis, 54, of Ellwood City initially waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday. However, he withdrew the waiver minutes later through his attorney Daniel Webster of Uniontown. The hearing was continued because Webster said he was unable to reach Leo Rudnik, certified public accountant with Kisiel and Rudnik of Connellsville, to provide a copy of the audits the firm conducted during the investigation.
Lewis remains in the Fayette County Jail in lieu of $150,000 straight cash bond. The hearing has been continued until 1 p.m. May 14.
State police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater charged Lewis with theft by deception and receiving stolen property after he allegedly bilked the authority out of $141,100 from 2005-2006 and from January to September 2007.
Lewis, who was working for the Lawrence County government at the time of his arrest, was arraigned on the charges April 16 before Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty Sr.
Lewis turned himself into authorities on Feb. 2 following an 11-month investigation into the matter that verified financial discrepancies and included audits conducted by Kisiel and Rudnik from the years ending Dec. 31, 2005 and 2006 and for the next nine months ending Sept. 30, 2007.
Lewis is accused of removing the money from the authority through various means such as unauthorized payroll disbursements and by pocketing cash from walk-in payments during those 2 1/2 years.
The authority placed Lewis on unpaid administrative leave in October 2007 after he was confronted about the allegations and failed to provide an explanation except that his activity was done through the payroll account.
The affidavit of probable cause filed by Broadwater indicated that Lewis said he started stealing the money to fund his girlfriend’s drug habit.
According to the affidavit, the authority hired Lewis in 2003 to handle daily business operations that also included billing, banking, accounting and weekly pump maintenance.
In the affidavit, Lewis was said to have written payroll checks to himself for more than his bi-weekly salary of $36,000.
The affidavit further stated that Pat Stefano, authority chairman, found Lewis was creating payroll advances and double pays for himself as well as making bank transfers to his personal account.
Stefano also accused Lewis of pocketing money from people who walked into the office to pay their bills with cash, the affidavit stated, noting that Lewis also allegedly falsified the account balances to cover customer payment deposits from the general fund into the payroll account.
Additionally, the affidavit said Lewis combined customer payments with minimal cash deposits to round the deposit and make it appear like a regular payroll account transfer.
Lewis is also accused of conducting payroll advances and obtaining an additional board member’s signature on the extra paycheck, rotating the paychecks to avoid suspicion, the affidavit stated.