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Luzerne County officials have seized Stacey McGlone’s pension contributions as payment in full for money she stole as a former fiscal technician in the county probation services department.
The county received the $23,596 in restitution March 24, said county pension coordinator Rick Hummer.
The McAdoo woman pleaded guilty to the theft last June. U.S. District Judge James M. Munley sentenced her to seven months in prison in October. She is lodged at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, with a scheduled release date of May 7, federal records show.
The amount of McGlone’s restitution was up in the air at her sentencing.
Prosecutors estimated McGlone stole around $23,000 between 2009 and 2014, but defense attorney William Ruzzo contested the amount. Munley agreed with Ruzzo’s suggestion to conduct an independent audit.
Federal investigators subsequently set the restitution at $23,596, county court officials said.
If restitution hadn’t been owed, McGlone would have received $17,093 of the total she paid into the pension fund, Hummer said.
McGlone, 38, had contributed $24,418, but the county must deduct a 30-percent early withdrawal penalty for those under age 59.5, he said.
Former employees who cash out pension contributions early are entitled to receive additional interest, but McGlone lost her claim on interest by law because her theft was tied to her county employment, officials said.
However, Hummer said the law allows the county to claim her interest if it is used for restitution.
The county accessed $6,503 of her interest to fill the gap between her $17,093 contributions and the total owed, he said. McGlone’s remaining interest went back into the employee pension fund, he said.
McGlone also is required to pay taxes on the total used for restitution, including the interest, Hummer said.
During her sentencing, McGlone said she intended to return the money when she stole it but couldn’t because the situation “snowballed.” Munley called her embezzlement “outrageous” and “very clever.”
McGlone handled the collection and depositing of fines, restitution and other debts owed by offenders served by the probation department.
According to federal court documents, McGlone kept cash payments made by offenders.
She issued a false receipt to offenders and failed to record the payments in the court case management system. If someone inquired about a missing payment, she consulted her personal log notebook so she could deposit and record the proper amount of cash payments in the county system, labeling these missed payment credits as an “oversight,” authorities said.
County Court Administrator Mike Shucosky has said court officials discovered the financial irregularities that led to the charge and took immediate action by suspending McGlone without pay and reporting suspicions to law enforcement authorities.
McGlone was terminated from the $37,550-a-year probation position one year ago. She had been hired when her father, William Sharkey, was court administrator. Sharkey was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 10 months in prison for stealing more than $70,000 in illegal gambling proceeds that were supposed to be turned over to the county.