2019 in Review: Ex-Carbon official sent to prison

A former Carbon County Clerk of Courts convicted of stealing funds from his office is spending the final days of 2019 at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill.

William C. McGinley, 61, of Jim Thorpe, was sentenced by Judge John L. Braxton in November to serve one to three years in a state correctional institution on a felony charge of theft — failure to make required distribution of funds.

Background

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Special Agent Jeffrey Wright, there were 169 instances between September 2013 and March 2018 when fingerprint/booking fees were collected at the Carbon County Correctional Facility and turned over to the county Clerk of Courts office.

However, the money, totaling $12,955, was never deposited in the bank or noted in the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts computer system. The Clerk of Courts office normally receives cash from the prison the next business day after a person is fingerprinted and/or booked following a criminal arrest, or when bail is paid with cash to the prison after business hours.

Wright said there were also 69 cases, from August 2014 to April 2018, where bail was posted in cash and turned over to the county Clerk of Courts office, but was never deposited or accounted for in the AOPC system.

McGinley met with representatives from the Attorney General’s office on Dec. 3, 2018, and admitted he took money from the office during the time he was elected.

At his sentencing, McGinley told Braxton he takes full responsibility for his actions and spoke of his gambling addiction.

McGinley has paid back the $44,000, and also paid the county $7,500 to cover the costs of a forensic audit ordered by the commissioners.

He served as clerk of courts for about 28 years, first elected in 1990. He retired on May 1, 2018, four months into a new term.

Impact

Carbon County Commissioner Wayne Nothstein spoke of the impact of McGinley’s actions during sentencing.

Nothstein said when the commissioners first learned of possible problems in the clerk office in 2016, McGinley was approached by the board.

McGinley’s response, he added, was to tell them it was his office and they couldn’t tell them what to do.

The clerk’s office only got worse, Nothstein said, with “files and files all over the place.” He added that people hired for the office quit because of the horrible atmosphere in the office created by McGinley. He said office positions were left open, not filled by McGinley, one for over a year, while the work continued to pile up.

After McGinley left and a new clerk was appointed, Francine Heaney, the county had to pay overtime and extra employees had to help clean up the backlog. Nothstein said as of November it cost the county $63,915.72.

Pension lost

Carbon commissioners in August unanimously voted to terminate all payments to William McGinley from the Carbon County pension plan pursuant to the public employee pension forfeiture act.

His monthly payments had totaled $2,472.61 per month.

The county hired the Harrisburg law firm of McNees Wallace and Nurick LLC to provide legal services relative to McGinley’s pension forfeiture. The law firm will be paid an hourly rate ranging from $175 to $320 for paralegals and specialists, and from $225 to $600 for attorneys.

“The law firm will help guide us through this process,” said Bob Crampsie, Carbon controller. “This is really unchartered waters for us. We never went down this road, but we want to protect the interest of our retirement fund. That is why we wanted to get a firm that specializes in this.”