Pushak found guilty in theft case
Former Cecil Township police Chief John Pushak, center, confers with his attorneys Joe Francis, left, and Thomas Brown after a Washington County jury returned a guilty verdict on all three counts of a criminal case stemming from allegations he siphoned money from a special department fund and used it to gamble.
Former Cecil police chief John T. Pushak, appreaing in court Friday, April 24, 2015.
A Washington County jury found former Cecil Township police Chief John Pushak guilty on all three charges in a criminal case stemming from allegations he took about $9,900 from a special department fund and used it to gamble.
The jury returned the verdict late Thursday following about four hours of deliberation on the third day of a trial on felony charges of theft and failure to make required disposition of funds and a misdemeanor charge of misapplying entrusted property.
Pushak, 67, and his attorneys declined to comment following the verdict.
Assistant District Attorney Jerry Moschetta asked jurors to consider the evidence and render a decision that would show the law applies equally to “the powerful, like Mr. Pushak, and the powerless.”
“This verdict was pure,” he said. “It was purely based on the evidence and the law.”
Judge Gary Gilman scheduled sentencing for Aug. 29 following a pre-sentencing investigation by the county Adult Probation Office. He remains free on his own recognizance until sentencing.
The case also carries other implications for Pushak, who served for 32 two years as chief out of 38 years in the department.
Failure to make required disposition of funds and misapplication of entrusted property are listed in the state Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act among the offenses that may result in a loss of retirement benefits.
The prosecution accused Pushak of making ATM withdrawals from the department’s federal property account – set up in late December 2009 using money from the Drug Enforcement Administration – and using it to gamble at two area casinos between January 2010 and January 2013, the month before he was placed on administrative leave amid questions about his handling of the account, which was under his sole control. He resigned weeks later and paid back the missing money.
Pushak testified he “thought everything was done” following the repayment and resignation, and didn’t hear anything about a criminal investigation until December 2013, when a state trooper contacted him.
State police filed charges in March 2014. Much of their case drew on an audit of the federal property account a private accounting firm performed as part of an investigation commissioned by the township and records for Pushak’s player’s card at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.
The audit found of 31 ATM withdrawals made with the account’s debit card, only three – totaling $1,830 – were linked to disbursements of funds to township officers who were using the money in drug investigations.
Seven of the withdrawals occurred at The Meadows; one was at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.
Pushak accounted for some of the missing money by explaining he used it to pay for a surveillance TV for the department. That left $9,927 unaccounted for.
The events that eventually resulted in the criminal case began in January 2013.
Members of the Washington County District Attorney’s Office spoke with then-Capt. Shawn Bukovinsky about an allegation made by a resident concerning money that was missing from the department evidence room. The resident alleged Pushak admitted to Bukovinsky he took the money and had a gambling problem.
Despite assurances the district attorney’s office wasn’t able to confirm the rumor and wasn’t conducting an active investigation, Bukovinsky testified Pushak appeared nervous about the possible probe.
On Feb. 14, 2013, he presented $5,340 in cash to Bukovinsky and township Manager Don Gennuso, telling them the money should go into the general fund. That action prompted township officials to begin reviewing the federal property account.
Pushak later made two other payments back into the fund that paid off the balance of the missing $9,927, both times after he was told the account was short based on the results of the audit conducted for the township.
Pushak’s attorneys emphasized during the trial that Pushak returned the funds willingly.
“John openly, without hesitation, accepted responsibility for every single dollar he is supposedly required to give back to the township,” said Joe Francis, one of Pushak’s attorneys, Thursday during his closing argument.
Moschetta contended Pushak showed he was guilty by not disputing whether he owed the township money.
The defense argued Pushak’s mishandling of the account didn’t rise to the level of criminal activity.
“If you take the evidence as a whole, it would seem that John made errors, miscalculations perhaps lack of judgment but not crimes,” Francis said.
Pushak testified he was escaping to the casino for comfort following the death of his wife – who succumbed to cancer after six years with the disease in 2008 – and would use the debit card for the property account when his own card was at its limit.
He said during a recorded interview with a state trooper he was “buying time at the casino” but maintained the move wasn’t about the money.
Later, he said, he’d replace that money by taking out cash from his own account and then adding it to funds from the federal property account he kept on hand in the department.
Among the evidence used to bolster this argument, his attorneys presented information his gross income totaled about $423,000 in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Instead, he said he’d use the accound when his personal debit card was at its limit. In testimony, he said he would replace the money he took by putting his own money back into cash from the federal property account that he kept in the department evidence room.
Moschetta disputed this explanation. He pointed out records for Pushak’s Meadows player’s card and the audit of the account, which showed he didn’t gamble with the player’s card on most days when he withdrew money from the federal property account at the casino.
He also said the money in question “wasn’t put back dollar for dollar” before the audit was performed.
“If it had been, you would expect to see not $5,340; you would expect to see $9,927.”