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COUNTY CORRUPTION: Ex-housing authority director admits to taking $1,400 from contractor

October 23, 2009

Maguire says he’s ‘guilty’

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
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WILKES-BARRE – Luzerne County Housing Authority member William Maguire pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting $1,400 from a contractor to reimburse himself for a trip he took in January to Sanibel Island, Fla., for housing authority business.

The trip, which was also attended by several other board members, had been approved by the authority. But Maguire was reluctant to seek reimbursement because of the debit card scandal that had hit the county in the prior year, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser said during Maguire’s plea hearing before U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo.

Houser said Maguire, 60, of Mountain Top and fellow housing authority board member Gerald Bonner decided to ask a contractor with whom the authority did business to pay for part of the trip.

Bonner, acting on Maguire’s behalf, approached the contractor and induced him to pay the $1,400 based on the fact that Bonner and Maguire had previously supported the contractor in obtaining housing authority business, including a more than $10,000 contract that was awarded in the summer of 2008, Houser said. Bonner then obtained the money from the contractor, whom Houser did not identify, and passed it on to Maguire.

Bonner, 66, of Mountain Top, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 1 on a charge of corrupt receipt of a reward for official action for his alleged role in the case. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

At Thursday’s hearing, Houser said Maguire initially denied taking the money when questioned by federal agents. He later admitted to the offense and signed an agreement to plead guilty to corrupt receipt of a reward for official action that was filed on Sept. 11.

Maguire and his attorneys, Philip Gelso and Frank Nocito, declined to comment after the plea hearing. He remains free pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 25. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, but will likely serve much less as sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of four to 10 months.

Bonner’s attorney, Michael Butera, did not immediately return phone messages left at his office and on his cell phone Thursday evening.

The housing authority oversees much of the county’s low-incoming housing. Its board members, who are not paid, are appointed by the county commissioners. Maguire served on the authority since 2003. He was replaced by a new member who was appointed on Oct. 8.

The trip to Florida was for a National Leased Housing Association conference held at the Sanibel Harbour Resort in Fort Meyers. In addition to Maguire, the conference was attended by Bonner, authority Director David Fagula and board member Frank “Buddy” Hoedl.

Contacted Thursday, Fagula said the trip was budgeted and approved by the board. Fagula, Hoedl and Bonner each submitted expense reports and were paid a combined total of $8,461.91 for air fare, lodging, meals and rental vehicles. The authority paid for Maguire’s registration, but he never sought reimbursement for the other expenses.

Fagula said he was “very surprised” to learn the charges against Maguire were related to the trip. Asked if he knew why Maguire didn’t simply seek reimbursement, he replied “I have no idea at all.”

Hoedl could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Maguire, a retired Wilkes-Barre city detective, was never directly linked to the debit-card controversy that erupted in January 2008 after it was revealed the prison’s deputy warden, Sam Hyder, used his county debit card to charge drinks at a strip club in Las Vegas while in the city for a conference. Expenses charged by several other county officials were also questioned.

Maguire had been involved in other controversies in the past, however.

In 2007, Maguire, who at the time was the county’s public safety municipal coordinator, was among a group of county employees who attended a gang conference in California in 2007. Some had questioned the conference, which cost the county about $10,000, because it had not been approved in advance.

In 1996, Maguire and other members of a state-funded drug task force came under fire after it was revealed they had racked up hefty overtime payments, but made few arrests.

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