Local veterans advocate charged with skimming funds
A local veterans advocate who has actively sought donations from area residents for years to support U.S. troops serving around the globe is now facing charges he allegedly stole more than $60,000 from the old Uniontown American Legion Post 51 on North Gallatin Avenue.
Uniontown police Detective Donald M. Gmitter said Joe T. Joseph, 73, of 322 Dixon Blvd., South Union Township, was charged Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Michael M. Metros with felony counts of theft by unlawful taking or disposition, theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition.
Gmitter said he investigated the case against Joseph for several years after he was informed in the summer of 2009 that a “substantial amount of money” was missing from Legion bank accounts in Uniontown.
Gmitter said that it appeared that Joseph failed to deposit all the the Legion’s funds into the appropriate bank accounts and “instead took unlawful possession and control of a significant portion” of the money.
For more information, read Sunday’s HeraldStandard.com.