Fireman charged in thefts

The treasurer of a Dupont volunteer fire company who admitted to losing about a quarter million dollars gambling was charged by police Wednesday with stealing more than $60,000 from the organization’s relief association.

John Thomas Lyons, 31, of Main Street, Avoca, told investigators he used most of the money to gamble at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Mount Airy Casino Resort.

Another company officer, whose allegedly forged signatures appeared on checks made out to Lyons, said Lyons told her the thefts began after he won a jackpot of around $1,600 at the Mohegan Sun casino and an additional $700 more while gambling.

Authorities say Lyons stole $68,237 from the Dupont Volunteer Hose Co. No. 1 Relief Association while he was treasurer of the hose company from March 2008 until August 2009.

State police and the state Department of the Auditor General, Office of Special Investigations, charged him with forgery, theft, criminal use of a communication facility, access device fraud and misapplication of entrusted property.

Police said Lyons, a hose company volunteer since 1996, told them he was a gambler and lost approximately $250,000. He said he had been employed by Bank of America and was terminated because corporate security was notified of returned checks in his personal bank account.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Trooper Stephen Polishan, he spoke with fire company officer Judith Ellen Cocco, who said she was alerted by PNC Bank of insufficient funds in the relief association’s account.

Cocco told police the signatures on the checks were of two of the four officers of the association, and that Lyons asked if he could meet with her about the account.

Lyons told investigators he took money from his 401(k) retirement plan, parents and grandparents as well as from the relief association.

He said he moved the money from the relief association into his account by depositing checks at automated teller machines and branches of Bank of America.

Investigators said the signatures on the association’s checks were Cocco’s and Lyons’, and that Lyons was forging Cocco’s name.

When interviewed by investigators, Lyons said he took more than $66,000 while he was on the fire company’s board of directors and was treasurer of the relief association. When the checking account balance was insufficient to cover the thefts, Lyons moved money from certificates of deposit to cover it.

Lyons said the thefts began when he started gambling at Mohegan Sun and Mount Airy, and he admitted that he forged Cocco’s name on the checks.Robert Soper, chief executive of Mohegan Sun, said officials at the Plains Township casino take gambling seriously.

Mohegan Sun, like the rest of the casino industry, has a comprehensive program in place to identify someone who might have a gambling problem, he said.

“We don’t want those individuals in our casino,” Soper said. “We’re diligent as we can be on that.”

Lyons has not been the only area person associated with emergency services accused of stealing funds to feed a gambling addiction.

A former treasurer of the West Hazleton Community Ambulance Association was convicted in August of stealing more than $5,000 in association funds and spending it on lottery tickets and cigarettes.