{"id":5922,"date":"2014-05-14T15:36:54","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T19:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=5922"},"modified":"2014-05-14T15:36:54","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T19:36:54","slug":"d-a-county-worker-embezzled-over-5000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=5922","title":{"rendered":"D.A.: County worker embezzled over $5,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former employee in Treasurer’s Office arraigned on multiple charges<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sean<\/a>

Sean H. Patterson<\/p><\/div>\n

An employee of the Chester County Treasurer\u2019s Office faces charges stemming from the alleged embezzlement of over $5,000 from his office, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said on Wednesday, May 14, in a news release.<\/p>\n

Hogan said Sean H. Patterson, 27, of West Chester, employed by the Treasurer\u2019s Office since 2011, was arrested after an investigation by the Chester County Detectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheft of taxpayer funds by a government employee is an extreme abuse of trust,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cThe public has a right to expect government employees to do their jobs honestly. We will not permit this type of criminal conduct in Chester County government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chester County Treasurer Ann Duke said internal controls placed in the office \u201callowed us to discover this issue and provide thorough documentation to the County Detectives … I am very proud of my staff for their ability to discover this matter, after having picked up on a small discrepancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the criminal complaint, employees from the Treasurer\u2019s Office contacted the Chester County Detectives on May 7 after detecting suspicious activity. Through a combination of witness interviews and account analysis, the detectives and the Treasurer\u2019s Office determined that from Dec. 31, 2012, through April 7, Patterson accepted cash payments from taxpayers, manipulating the county computer to cover up the thefts, the complaint said.<\/p>\n

In an interview with county detectives, Patterson apologized for the thefts and said he was \u201cunder stress due to financial strain,\u201d the complaint said. Patterson said that he had maxed out his credit cards and that he used the stolen $5,886.51 to \u201cpay down bills,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n

Hogan said Patterson\u2019s fraudulent adjustments within the county\u2019s accounts created an additional loss of $4,386.40, resulting in a total loss to Chester County taxpayers of $10,252.91, the release said, adding that anyone with further information about the case should contact Detective Tom Goggin at 610-344-6866.<\/p>\n

Patterson was arraigned on multiple counts of felony theft, tampering with public records, and related offenses and released on $10,000 unsecured bail, court records said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 3, records said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t
\t\t \t\t\"\"<\/a> \t\t  <\/span> \t\tSend article as PDF<\/span> \t\t  <\/span> \t\t \t\t \t<\/form> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former employee in Treasurer’s Office arraigned on multiple charges By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times An employee of the Chester County Treasurer\u2019s Office faces charges stemming from the alleged embezzlement of over $5,000 from his office, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said on Wednesday, May 14, in a news release. Hogan said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[156,3742,3744,3743],"class_list":["post-5922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-chester-county-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-chester-county-treasurer-ann-duke","tag-detective-tom-goggin","tag-sean-h-patterson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}