PD News

February 2, 2010

Ex-cop surrenders in theft case

Joseph Campbell received more than $20,000 for drug courses he didn’t teach, police charge.

By Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WEST PITTSTON – A former borough police officer accused of stealing more than $20,000 in funds that were to be used to teach children about the dangers of illegal drugs and alcohol surrendered Monday to face theft charges.

Joseph Campbell, 47, of Wyoming, was charged with five felony counts of theft. He turned himself in with his attorney, Peter Loftus, at the office of District Judge Joseph Carmody in West Pittston. He was released on $25,000 unsecured bail.

Campbell and Loftus declined to comment about the allegations.

Luzerne County detectives allege Campbell received $20,149 in DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) funds for classes he did not teach at the Wyoming Area high school and middle school from 2002-08, according to the criminal complaint.

Campbell was not employed by the school district.

District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll said the students within Wyoming Area suffered.

“The DARE program teaches students from kindergarten through 12th grades how to resist peer pressure and live productive and violence-free lives,” Musto Carroll said. “The students suffered the loss here.”

West Pittston Borough Council terminated Campbell on Nov. 12. He was paid to teach DARE classes through grants from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police Chief Paul Porfirio conducted an internal investigation after allegedly finding discrepancies in Campbell’s time sheets for hours teaching DARE classes in the high school and middle school during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years. Porfirio learned from school officials that DARE classes were not taught to high school and middle school students at the time when Campbell claimed he coordinated the lessons.

Detectives learned Campbell was paid by the state commission for DARE classes he did not teach since the 2002-03 school year.

A day after Campbell was terminated, he reimbursed the commission $3,704 in a cashier’s check, acknowledging an audit determined DARE classes were not provided to students in seventh and 11th grade for the 2007-08 school year.

West Pittston Mayor William Goldsworthy said he received a copy of the cashier’s check at his home on Nov. 13. Goldsworthy told detectives that when he questioned Campbell about the check, Campbell “apologized for any embarrassment and admitted that he in fact took the money and did not work the hours he submitted,” the criminal complaint says.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Feb. 10 before Carmody.

Edward Lewis, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7196.

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