Woman must pay back $98K she stole from arts council

Caroline E. Coyle, 55, Minersville, arrested in February for stealing money from the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts, was sentenced Tuesday to three to six months in county prison. Coyle entered a guilty plea to theft by unlawful taking during a status conference with President Judge William E. Baldwin. Baldwin added five years on probation for identity theft, and Coyle must pay $98,332.25 restitution to SCCA.

Coyle wrote checks to herself from the bank account of the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts for years. She was arrested by Pottsville Police on Feb. 11, 2019, who said she wrote checks to herself from the SCCA checking account by forging the signatures of the SCCA’s former executive director — her mother — and chairperson.

According to the police report, Coyle forged 223 checks to herself between January 2014 and January 2019. Coyle was not an employee of SCCA but gained access to the account by helping her mother pay its bills.

Coyle was represented by attorney James Conville. Philip McCarthy, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, prosecuted the case.