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By ANDREW TUTINO atutino@leader.net
Wednesday, February 02, 2000 Page: 3A
WRIGHT TWP. – Is Elsie Dock, the former Rice Township tax collector, a bad
bookkeeper, or did she commit felony theft by failing to pass tax money on to
the county and the township as she was supposed to in 1997, as has been
charged?
District Justice Ronald Swank heard more than two hours of testimony
Tuesday during Dock’s preliminary hearing, and is faced with deciding if her
case should be sent to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas. Swank did not
give a decision Tuesday, but one is expected by the end of the week.
Dock was charged in November with a felony count of theft after an
investigation revealed that more than $100,000 in tax money from Rice Township
residents was not turned over to Luzerne County and the township in 1997. Dock
resigned in August 1997 as allegations of mismanagement surfaced.
During the hearing, Michelle Olshefski, an assistant district attorney,
said Dock was under the obligation to collect taxes and remit the money to the
county because Dock was the tax collector.
Olshefski said investigators found bank statements that indicated Dock had
deposited almost $400,000 in two accounts. Of that money, about $247,000 was
turned over to the county, with the remainder missing.
But Dock’s attorney, Michael Cefalo, of West Pittston, said his client was,
if anything, guilty of being a bad bookkeeper.
Numerous times during the hearing, Cefalo said that while Dock’s records
were not well organized, she at no time attempted to divert taxpayer money
into her personal bank accounts. He said the correct amount of money was
deposited and then handed over to the county, but Dock’s bookkeeping was so
poor, that’s difficult to tell.
Cefalo said his client never falsified records and no taxpayer money was
ever found to have been deposited in Dock’s private account.
Also, Cefalo said, the District Attorney’s Office should have charged Dock
with a lesser theft-related crime, a misdemeanor. He said that even if money
was taken, Dock did not do it purposely, as would be required to sustain a
felony charge.
Olshefski staunchly defended the felony charges.
David Muroski, a bookkeeper in the county Controller’s Office, and Tom
Tinsley, a certified public accountant who performed an audit of Dock’s
records, were called by the county to give testimony at the hearing. Both said
the funds in question could not be located.
The defense did not call anyone to testify.