Fire chief faces fraud charges
Uniontown fire Chief Myron Nypaver is facing criminal charges after he and his wife allegedly stole more than $20,000 from the city, just months after he won reinstatement as head of the department. Perryopolis police Officer Steven G. Kontaxes said Nypaver, 45, of 76 Bryer Ave., Uniontown, was charged Friday before Magisterial District Judge Michael M. Metros with felony counts of theft by deception and insurance fraud following a lengthy investigation.
Additionally, Kontaxes filed similar charges against Nypaver’s wife, Lisa A. Nypaver, 41, after the couple allegedly filed more than $20,000 in fraudulent unemployment claims from Uniontown beginning in March and continuing through October.
Lisa Nypaver was charged with felony counts of theft by deception, access device fraud and insurance fraud. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
Myron Nypaver was reinstated as fire chief after winning an arbitration award in September.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, Kontaxes began investigating the alleged fraudulent activity in November after being assigned to the incident by Fayette County District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr.
Kontaxes said that the investigation was initiated after city officials discovered that the city was being charged for unemployment insurance claims for Myron Nypaver while he was employed and being paid by the city.
Kontaxes explained that the city was the victim in the case because the city pays for unemployment compensation on a self-insured basis, meaning that unemployment claims paid to city employees come directly from city coffers.
Myron Nypaver, who was one of seven firefighters furloughed in December 2009, returned to work in March, Kontaxes said.
Kontaxes said that records indicated that Myron Nypaver was paid weekly wages averaging about $1,086 after returning to work and while he was still claiming unemployment benefits.
Kontaxes said he went to the Nypavers’ home and interviewed Lisa Nypaver regarding the fraudulent activity on Nov. 10.
She acknowledged the false unemployment claims and told investigators that she had filed them on her computer, Kontaxes said.
Later during the interview, Myron Nypaver arrived at the residence and, after Lisa Nypaver told her husband that she disclosed the information regarding the alleged fraud, Myron Nypaver told Kontaxes that he was with his wife when the claims were filed.
Kontaxes further stated in the affidavits of probable cause filed against the Nypavers that Myron Nypaver was issued a state debit card for receiving and withdrawing unemployment benefits.
He said that when a state investigator met with Myron Nypaver regarding the alleged fraud Nov. 16, Myron Nypaver said that he destroyed the card when he returned to work in March.
However, Kontaxes said that the card was used regularly to withdraw unemployment funds after his return to work and multiple surveillance photos taken at banking machines during the months after Myron Nypaver returned to work in March showed Lisa Nypaver using the debit card to make withdrawals.
The office of Mayor Ed Fike declined comment on the case.
Myron Nyaver was released on $25,000 unsecured bond following his arraignment.
Metros added a condition to the bond that requires Myron Nypaver to relinquish all firearms from his residence and be turned over to a responsible party as determined by Kontaxes or Fayette County Drug Task Force Capt. Steve Cooper.
A preliminary hearing for Myron Nypaver is tentatively set for Tuesday morning before Metros.
Lisa Nypaver was charged in a second case Friday with forgery, theft by unlawful taking and access device fraud.
In that case, Kontaxes said that Lisa Nypaver, while working for ALICO Services Ltd. of Uniontown, stole nearly $6,000 from the company by forging checks to herself during her two months of employment.
ALICO is a company that performs peer review of workers compensation insurance claims for the state.
When confronted with the alleged forgeries, Kontaxes said Lisa Nypaver apologized to the owner and said she had a problem and needed help.
Additionally, Kontaxes said Myron Nypaver as well as Lisa Nypaver’s mother provided some restitution to the business.
Kontaxes said that also during her two months of employment at ALICO, Lisa Nypaver fraudulently used a company credit card to purchase an iPod and pay a Verizon phone bill of nearly $900.
Kontaxes noted in the criminal complaint that the owner of ALICO is a personal friend and neighbor of Lisa Nypaver and gave her a job at the company doing minor clerical work after she asked for a job.
This is not Lisa Nypaver’s first run-in with the law.
In 2002, she paid nearly $25,000 in restitution and was sentenced to house arrest for taking and forging checks from her former employer.
Between 1999 and 2001, she worked as a billing clerk in a medical office, and forged the doctor’s name to personal, insurance and Medicare checks, pocketing the money.
Prosecutors agreed to the house arrest sentence because she repaid the stolen money, and would have asked for a jail sentence were she unable to do so.
Again in 2006, she faced forgery charges after she allegedly altered a check to the Uniontown Fire Department.
She allegedly got a check for $10 for two tickets to the department’s annual multiple sclerosis toy bash, and altered it to read $110. The check had been made payable to her husband.
Those charges were ultimately withdrawn at the magisterial district judge level.