Oct 12, 2016 5 min read

Retired Peters Township police chief Harry Fruecht told jail officials a former police chief convicted in June of taking money from a special investigations fund to gamble would help Fruecht “establish from scratch a hiring process for the Borough of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, for the position of chief of police.”

Fruecht, who is now a consultant, gave that description in verifying employment for former Cecil Township police chief John T. Pushak, 67, so Pushak could participate in Washington County jail’s work-release program for inmates. Pushak is serving a 3-to-12-month sentence but has been allowed to leave the facility nine hours a day, six days a week to work for Fruecht.

The description in the letter contradicts the way officials from the state agency paying Fruecht and the Jefferson County borough manager explained the work Fruecht was hired to do.

Punxsutawney manager Ben White said council hired a new police chief Sept. 23, but officials weren’t acting on “anything Mr. Fruecht had done or recommended.” Instead, he said the state Department of Community and Economic Development is paying Fruecht to prepare a management study for the borough.

“We have no services of his going on right now beyond the police management study,” he said.

Fruecht’s undated letter – released last week in response to a request under the state Right-To-Know Law – stated the project for Punxsutawney will take four to six months.

“Once established and approved, we would then oversee and manage the process and candidates,” Fruecht’s letter stated. “Finally, we would conduct the hiring process and supply the list of eligible candidates to the Borough for their approval.”

Reached at home Monday, Fruecht – a former Upper St. Clair and Cecil Township police officer who retired Sept. 30 after 28 years as the Peters Township chief – refused to discuss Pushak’s work for him.

“I’m not answering any of your questions,” he said. “I don’t have to, so I’m not going to.”

Pushak reported to the jail Sept. 12, even though Judge Gary Gilman said he could remain free pending his motion to vacate or modify his sentence. Pushak agreed to conditions of the work-release program Sept. 14.

Joe Francis, one of Pushak’s attorneys, said “none of (the crimes in Pushak’s case) appears to relate to the job description of his current type of employment.” He said his client should be treated like any other defendant.

“There are countless numbers of men who have committed far more egregious, reprehensible offenses who were granted work-release privileges,” Francis said. “Does the public peer into every minute detail of their job?”

Warden Edward Strawn said jail officials can consider whether an inmate is a threat to public safety when making decisions about participation in work release, but that isn’t a factor in Pushak’s case.

“My concern is it’s a legitimate place of employment,” Strawn said.

A jury found Pushak, who resigned in February 2013 after 32 years as the Cecil police chief, guilty on felony charges of theft and failure to make required disposition of funds and a misdemeanor charge of misapplying entrusted property. The conviction will cost him his pension under state law.

Much of the prosecution’s case drew on an auditing firm’s review of the department’s federal property account, set up with money from the Drug Enforcement Administration to be used in controlled drug buys or to purchase equipment.

The firm found $9,927 in “questionable” withdrawals – some at area casinos – between January 2010 and January 2013, while the former chief alone controlled it. Pushak returned the missing funds and later told a state police investigator he drew from the account to buy more time at the casino, where he found refuge as he grieved his wife’s death from cancer.

White said he wasn’t aware Fruecht had told Washington County jail an inmate was going to help him advise Punxsutawney.

DCED spokeswoman Heidi Havens said the management study is a technical service available to every municipality in the state. The department is paying Fruecht $45 an hour for up to 100 hours of work on a study, which the agency expects to be finished in the next two months.

“The hiring of a chief of police, noted in the letter, is not related to the police management study being conducted by (Fruecht),” she said in an email. “DCED is in contract with (Fruecht) only, and Mr. Pushak is not working on this project.”

Fruecht’s letter said Pushak has worked with him in the past and would be paid $10 an hour. He asked the jail to make Pushak available initially from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., six days a week. He said the hours could change and expected Pushak’s pay to increase as the project progressed.

Pushak agreed to pay the jail $146 a week, based on a percentage of his gross earnings.

Fruecht also wrote he prefers to have employees “work at their own computer setup which I can accommodate in my own home” in North Strabane, also the address of his company, Police Consulting Services LLC.

He asked Pushak be allowed to return to his home to obtain reference books and other materials for the project, though jail officials instructed Fruecht to go instead if they needed anything from there.

Fruecht’s letter didn’t mention the state agency, and over the phone, he maintained the arrangement “had nothing to do with” DCED but hung up without elaborating.