Auditor saw 13 deposits missing

WILKES-BARRE – An agent with the state Auditor General’s Office testified Wednesday that out of 337 transfers of money from Luzerne County Community College’s cafeteria to the business department, 13 never made it to the bank.

Peter Moses was allegedly tasked with successfully delivering those 13 deposits, totaling nearly $17,000, but they never made it to the business office, Nathan Lipton said.

Lipton testified in the third day of trial for Moses, who was charged with taking the $17,000 and two laptop computers in September 2008.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday afternoon, and defense attorneys began calling witnesses.

Senior Judge Kenneth Brown said he expects the jury of seven men and five women to begin deliberating Moses’ fate this afternoon.

Defense attorney William Ruzzo called several character witnesses to testify Moses is a law-abiding citizen, and that a lot of family and friends of Moses are concerned about him and this week’s trial.

A relative of Moses, John Michael, testified he and Moses went to a funeral of a family member in January 2006, when Moses is alleged to have taken money. Ruzzo said Moses, 59, of Wilkes-Barre, wasn’t even in the office the day of the alleged theft.

Lipton was called to testify by Assistant District Attorneys Michael Melnick and Shannon Crake.

Lipton said he was called in to investigate missing money at LCCC in March 2008. He reviewed a calendar kept by Food Service Director Sheldon Owens of when the money was missing, how much of it was missing and who was responsible for taking it to the business office.

Ruzzo said anyone could put someone’s name on the calendar and blame that person, and he wondered if Lipton thought the calendar was credible.

Lipton said he found Owens’ calendar to be credible, and that, based on information he obtained, believed Moses was the person responsible for taking the money.

Melnick also questioned Lipton about Moses’ filing for bankruptcy in November 2005.

According to court records from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Moses filed on Nov. 15, 2005, just one day after $1,400 went missing from the college.

Lipton said Moses’ bankruptcy filing shows Moses was in debt up to over $183,000, which includes outstanding student loans, mortgage payments and collection agency payments.

Accountant Pamela Hearn testified she had worked for LCCC in 2007 and noticed that revenues and expenses have fluctuated in the school’s cafeteria.

Hearn said she brought the discrepancies to Moses’ attention. She said she didn’t think it was safe for employees to be transporting money across the campus, and suggested a Brink’s armored truck transport it.

“He kept making excuses,” Hearn said, including that the Brink’s truck would be “too expensive” or that deposits from the cafeteria went to a different bank, and that the bank couldn’t be changed because of “political reasons.”

“Every time I asked to see a receipt, I saw a receipt. Except for (the 13) particular instances,” Hearn said.

Another LCCC accountant, Robert Linskey testified he was only working at the college for a week when he began to notice missing deposits – 13 in all. He said he went to the cafeteria to speak with Moses, Hearn and Owens about the missing money and was told there was a backup system computer in Moses’ office.

Linskey said he went to look at the computer another day, but when he went into Moses’ office, the computer was gone.

Shortly thereafter, Linskey said, he met with Owens, who showed him a calendar he had been keeping with names and dollar amounts on it showing when the money went missing and who may have taken it.

Linskey also testified that Moses told him he was in favor of hiring Brink’s to transport money on campus.

Donald Nelson, the college’s chief technology officer, testified he ordered three computers in April 2007 to be used at the college’s Educational Conference Center.

Each computer, Nelson said, cost approximately $800 and was to be used for meetings and luncheons at the center.

Nelson said the computers were secured to carts so that they could not be stolen and Moses often asked if the computers came in yet because he “desperately needed” them.

Nelson and other computer systems workers testified the computers have yet to be found.

Clear 32°

News

The trial of Peter Moses, accused of thefts from LCCC, could go to the jury today.

Place Quick Ads