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Marclay EMS files for bankruptcy

By Olivia Goudy ogoudy@heraldstandard.Com 2 min read
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Marclay EMS is seeking Chapter 11 protection, listing debts that include $200,000 in unpaid taxes, according to court documents filed in the Western District Bankruptcy Court.

According to documents filed in the case, the ambulance service had between one and 49 creditors. The range of both their assets and liabilities was listed as being between $100,001 and $500,000.

Court papers indicated that $177,593.30 accumulated in unpaid quarterly taxes to the IRS alone.

Documents filed included a list of the 20 largest unsecured claims. Ambulance repairs totaled more than $3,000, while expenses for new and rental ambulances cost more than $71,000. Delinquent rental expenses for their Markleysburg and Rockwood stations were $4,100, in addition to fuel bills being in excess of $5,000.

State taxes were also not paid in the amount of $41,195, while unpaid state withholding taxes totaled $35,513. An unsecured line of credit for $50,000 was also listed as a debt, in addition to worker’s compensation insurance bills in the amount of more than $14,000.

Chapter 11 is a reorganizational bankruptcy in which businesses or consumer debtors ask the court to help them get back on track in repaying certain debts. Debtors typically maintain control of their business in this type of case.

In March, the ambulance service’s attorney, Marc Valentine, filed for injunctive relief to allow for the service to stay open. The IRS last fall began levying most of the accounts receivable for Marclay EMS, including payments from nursing homes.

“Marclay wants to pay their taxes,” Valentine said in March. “My whole goal is to buy some time for the client and make the government aware of what is going on. I got the government’s attention today. Now I’ve gotten us enough time, and I have the other side understanding the seriousness of what we’re facing.”

Financial issues arose when it was discovered that several individuals were responsible for allegedly diverting funds.

Federal court papers contend that “large inconsistencies and abnormalities in the plaintiff’s finances show that certain employees were embezzling and/or otherwise illegally diverting the funds of the plaintiff for said employee’s benefit.”

The responsible individuals were allegedly masking the removed funds as payroll wages to said employees, according to court papers.

Valentine and Daniel White, the attorney who filed the bankruptcy papers, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

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