More On McCullough Corruption (The Kathleen Edition)

I stumbled across this in the P-G yesterday while enjoying yet another good fine lunchtime meal downtown.

The news isn't good:

An Allegheny County jury found a Collier woman guilty Tuesday of stealing more than $1.3 million from two separate employers over a period of several years.

Kathleen A. McCullough, 47, was charged with taking $1.2 million from Mackin Engineering, where she worked as the company's controller, and later from the Radiance Surgery Center in Upper St. Clair, where she worked as office manager.

The jury in the case before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos deliberated less than three hours before returning the verdict: guilty on all counts. Ms. McCullough will be sentenced on Aug. 27. She could face a sentence of up to three to six years in prison.

You remember Kathleen McCullough, right? You will in a minute.

Here's a clue:

Ms. McCullough is charged in a separate case, along with her brother, attorney and Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough, with defrauding an elderly Upper St. Clair widow. Mr. McCullough is charged with taking nearly $200,000 from her while acting as her attorney.

Ms. McCullough is accused of being paid to be a companion to the woman though she had no professional experience or licenses.

That case is scheduled to go to trial in October.

While the two are in charged in that separate case, the P-G reported awhile ago that Chuck McCullough was involved in this case as well:

Italo V. Mackin, president and CEO of Mackin Engineering, testified that when Ms. McCullough handled the finances and accounting for the company, she wrote more than $1 million worth of checks to herself, primarily to pay bills for her American Express card that were as high as $94,000 for a month. Mr. Mackin said he did not authorize the payments.

Mr. Mackin said he fired Ms. McCullough on a Friday in July 2006 once he learned she had been making unauthorized payments to herself. The following Monday, he said, Charles McCullough and an attorney were in his office. They met privately with Mackin vice president Jerome Schwertz.

In the meeting, Mr. Schwertz testified, Mr. McCullough maintained that the money was not stolen and accused Mr. Schwertz and Ms. McCullough of having an affair, saying Mr. Schwertz had authorized the payments. Mr. Schwertz testified that he did have an affair with Ms. McCullough for several years, but he denied it at the time.

A paragraph or so later:

Then the parties drew up a confidentiality agreement that neither side would press criminal charges or sue. Mr. Mackin said he did so to protect his family and prevent the affair from becoming public. Mr. Schwertz is married to Mr. Mackin's daughter.

From his website:

Council Member Chuck McCullough has served as an At-Large representative for the citizens of Allegheny County since January 2008. He views his role as doing whatever he can to try to help the residents of Allegheny County who are in need and is committed to doing so.

Isn't it nice to see an Allegheny County Councilman working so hard on behalf of a constituent?

Chuck McCullough's Going To Trial

Both the P-G and the Trib have the details.

We've been been following this for some time now. I've met a few of the players of this particular drama and for the sake of full disclosure let me say that one of my old jobs was at a law firm that also employed McCullough at the same time - we didn't have that much interaction and none of it has anything to do with this story.

What makes this particularly newsworthy is that despite the charges, the arrest and now the trial, attorney Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough is as of this writing STILL on Allegheny County Council.

Did you know he's on the Government Reform committee?

From the County website:

Chuck McCullough was elected to one of the County Council At Large seats in the November, 2007 election, and brings 25 years of government expertise to Council. Chuck was the Homestead Borough Solicitor from 1984-1990 and the Allegheny County Solicitor from 2002-2004. He has been the Township Attorney for the Township of Upper St. Clair since 1998 and also serves as Special Counsel to the Upper St. Clair School District and to South Park Township. Additionally, he has served in different capacities as legal counsel in various state and local government bond issues.

Chuck has developed effective, pragmatic and non-partisan resolutions to many of our regions’ issues. His reputation for success in this regard resulted in his selection by Governor Rendell to be a member of Commonwealth’s negotiating team with U.S. Airways and his selection by his peers, the solicitors for the municipalities in the Alcosan collection system, to be one of the lead attorneys in negotiations with EPA, DEP and the County Health Department for a county-wide administrative consent order to study and assess our regions’ sewerage systems. The resulting consent order is estimated to have saved the municipalities millions of dollars in fines and litigation expense and over a billion dollars in compliance with environmental regulations. Chuck was also selected by County Council in 2005 to be a member of the County’s Government Study Review Commission, which conducted a comprehensive review of the functions and effectiveness of County governmen

Good for him. Now look what's happened. From the P-G:

After 30 witnesses, reams of paperwork and continuances that made the preliminary hearing -- typically a single-day affair -- stretch over nearly two months, Allegheny County Councilman Charles P. McCullough was ordered to stand trial yesterday on all 24 counts against him.

The P-G has the original police criminal complaint. Here are the charges listed on the complaint:

• One count of making unsworn falsification to authorities. McCullough is charged with failing to disclose on a state ethics commission financial statement income from the Jordan trust.
  
• Two counts of making false reports to law enforcement. McCullough is charged with falsely reporting to Upper St. Clair police that P-G reporter Dennis Roddy had harassed Jordan when no harassment occurred
• Nine counts of misapplication of entrusted property. McCullough is charged with making a number of checks out of Jordan's trust without her knowledge.
• Seven counts of theft by taking. More checks from Jordan's trust without her approval.
• Two counts of theft by deception. McCullough is charged with getting paid for stuff he didn't do.
• One count of criminal conspiracy. This has to do with the charges McCullough's sister is facing, as far as I can tell.
  
• One count of tampering with public records. This has to do with his failure to report the Jordan income.
• One count of failing to properly report statement of financial interests.

And that's 24.

From the P-G:

Mr. McCullough, 54, is charged with using his control of Shirley H. Jordan's assets to reward himself, friends, political allies and family members, including his sister Kathleen McCullough, who also was ordered to stand trial on three theft charges yesterday. Ms. McCullough, in addition to receiving money from Mrs. Jordan through her brother, is charged with embezzling more than $1 million from an engineering firm where she worked as an accountant.

We wrote about the embezzling here. Messy biz, that.

In all fairness, we should say that from the Trib we learn that:

McCullough's actions were approved by an Orphans' Court judge, [McCullough's lead attorney Thomas] Farrell argued. Allegations he misused Jordan's money do not amount to criminal charges, and would be more appropriate for a lawyers' disciplinary review board, Farrell added.

Which is all well and good, but I don't think it doesn't address the allegations of making false reports to the police, does it?

One interesting thing about both articles is that both contain the same quotation from Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus:

They had a cash cow here, and Mr. McCullough was going to milk it for all it's worth.

Let's just leave it with that.

Chuck McCullough UPDATE

For those of you who may not have been following the trial of former Allegheny County Council Member Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough, the trial resumed today.

And this is happened, according to the Trib's Adam Brandolph:

An Allegheny County judge acquitted former Councilman Chuck McCullough of three charges related to the theft of money from an elderly widow's estate Wednesday as the prosecution rested its case and the defense prepared to call its first witnesses.

Common Pleas Judge Lester G. Nauhaus granted a motion from the defense to acquit McCullough of misapplication of entrusted money, theft and conspiracy. Nauhaus acquitted McCullough's sister, Kathleen McCullough, 52, of Collier, of both counts she faced.

I'm not sure, but I think that he was facing about 2 dozen charges.  And take a pair away from that two dozen and Chuck's still looking at 21 (or so) charges.  But as with all things legal, the numbers might be off.  It's possible that some other charges have been dropped in the intervening years. 

I'll wait for verification on exactly what charges are left from one or another of the local news outlets.

Adam did include this in his reporting:

Nauhuas' acquittal of some charges against McCullough was not all that surprising. In April after a week of testimony, Nauhaus told prosecutors that he had not seen evidence that McCullough stole money from Jordan's estate and expressed doubts about whether prosecutors had met their burden of proof.

“So far, all I've seen evidence of is malpractice. That's not fraud,” Nauhaus said. “He very well may be a crummy lawyer, but that doesn't make him a criminal.”

So I guess what he's saying is that Chuck McCullough may not be a criminal but there's lotsa evidence showing he's a crummy lawyer.

At the very least, for something like that to come from a sitting judge, that can't be good.  If only in the general "what about my reputation" sort of way.

The trial continues.

More On Chuck McCullough (Yet Again)

Today, I am quoting the Trib but not to criticize what it says there. I'm just setting the stage:

What a mess: A judge once again has delayed the felony theft trial of Chuck McCullough of Upper St. Clair. And that means Republican voters could nominate for Allegheny County chief executive a fella in the May primary who, if convicted, would have to be yanked from the November ballot. Mr. McCullough, you'll recall, won an at-large County Council seat four years ago, after the criminal investigation was publicly known. Democrats are highly amused.

There are two more amusing things to be found at the P-G. First some more info from McNulty:

Republican county executive candidate Chuck McCullough got some great news last week.

Just about every story on the attorney and former Allegheny County councilman-at-large mentions two things: that he's awaiting trial on charges he stole money from elderly client, and that the trial is set May 9, just a week before the May 17 primary. Can you take the second half of that out of the boilerplate.

Last week Common Pleas Court Judge Donald Machen granted a postponement of the trial, as requested by defense attorney Patrick Thomassey. They plan to schedule a new one this week.

McCullough was charged in February 2009.

He is running against tech executive and Mt. Lebanon commissioner D. Raja for the party's nod for exec. Tea party official Patti Weaver dropped from the race March 23.

The postponement, we are told, is due to an out of state personal matter Chuck's defense attorney has to attend to.

In case you've forgotten the charges, here's the what the P-G had to say in February, 2009:

The Allegheny County councilman accused nearly two years ago of improperly making $40,000 in political contributions from an elderly widow's trust fund has been charged with 23 criminal counts, including theft, misapplication of property, criminal conspiracy and making false reports.

Charles P. McCullough, who was elected in 2007 after some of the allegations had come to light, was arrested yesterday and released on $20,000 straight bond.

Also charged was Mr. McCullough's sister, Kathleen, who is named in relation to the trust account in the jury presentment. She also was charged in a separate embezzlement case.

His sister's already been convicted of that separate embezzlement case, though Chuck was involved in that case, too.

And why is this so amusing? From the other report at Early Returns yesterday:

The first poll on the GOP side of the county executive race shows Chuck McCullough with a 6-point lead over D. Raja, with a lot of undecideds and high negatives for both candidates, according to PoliticsPa.

An automated poll of 385 registered Republicans by Municipoll for PP showed McCullough with 30% to 24% for Raja, with 46% undecided and a 5 point MoE. The high negatives? 21% for McCullough and 18% for Raja.

From PoliticsPa:

However, McCullough’s pending legal issues seem to have put a dent in his approval ratings. A mere 5.4 percent of voters have a favorable impression of the Councilman, who has been accused of defrauding an elderly widow. (The Post-Gazette reported Sunday that his trial has been postponed until after the May 17 primary). 21 percent have a negative opinion of McCullough, with 73 percent undecided.

The local powers that be in the GOP are not happy. From the Trib:

The delay could bring political help or damage to McCullough, 56, a Republican from Upper St. Clair, said GOP Chairman Jim Roddey. But it's definitely bad for Republicans, he said.

If McCullough would defeat D. Raja, 45, of Mt. Lebanon in the primary, but gets convicted of bilking the multimillion-dollar estate of widow Shirley Jordan before the general election in November, he would have to be removed from the ballot.

"Unfortunately, I think there's a real risk," Roddey said. "I don't know what the contingency plan would be."

So with all that bad press (and some serious legal action pending) McCullough is still 6 points up among likely Republican voters and nearly three quarters are still undecided?

THAT'S amusing. Even from a non-Democrat like me.

It's An Anniversary, Of Sorts, For Chuck McCullough

In case you missed it (and with current the Trump-shitstorm dissolving the republic, it would be easier-than-easy to do so) today is the 8th anniversary of this event:

Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough was arrested and arraigned today on nearly two dozen counts following an investigation last year of his handling of an elderly widow's trust funds.

A county grand jury today handed up a 52-page presentment that alleges Mr. McCullough, an attorney, and his sister, Kathleen A. McCullough, bilked money from the $14.5 million trust fund of an Upper St. Clair widow, Shirley H. Jordan, 90.

The investigation began after an article appeared in the Post-Gazette in April 2007 in which Mrs. Jordan denied that she donated $10,000 to each of four political candidates the year before, according to an affidavit that accompanied the arrests of Mr. McCullough and his sister.

Here's the P-G article (written by Dennis Roddy) from  April 12 2007, and the original complaint, in case you're interested in reading them.

That means that It's been exactly 8 years to the day, since he was arrested.  It's now officially longer than any non-FDR presidency.  I'll put it another way, the time between Chuck McCullough's arrest and the time he starts the jail sentence for which he was found guilty will be longer than the time Barack Obama (or George W. Bush or Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan) were President of the United States.  Something to ponder.

In the intervening 2,922 days these events have occurred:

• His trial began on April 13, 2015.  That's only 2,245 days since he was arrested.  By the way the trial began 8 years and one day since Roddy's piece in the P-G.
• He was found guilty on July 31, 2015.  That's only 2,353 days since he was arrested and only 570 days ago.
• He was sentenced to 2 1⁄2 to five years on December 17, 2015.  That's only 2,493 days since he was arrested and only 431 days ago.

And he's still out on bond.  What happened was this:

Between his conviction and his sentencing, McCullough sought to have the theft case's presiding judge, Lester Nauhaus, recuse himself because McCullough said the judge improperly passed a message to McCullough's attorney urging him to waive his right to a jury trial.

Prosecutors said that and other statements McCullough made in his motion for recusal contradicted his statement under oath that no one threatened or coerced him to waive a jury in favor of a bench trial.

Basically, after the non-jury trial was done, he said he took a judge-only trial because he feared repercussions from judge Nauhaus if he didn't. On the other hand, he said under oath that no one threatened or coerced him into taking the judge-only trial.  And so (still from The Trib):

The District Attorney's Office charged McCullough in November with two counts each of perjury, false swearing and obstruction of justice, along with one count of unsworn falsification.

So now there's a perjury case while McCullough appeals his conviction that came after his arrest 8 years ago.  The perjury case is set to start 5 days after the end of his Superior Court appeal.

The only problem is found in the Trib's last sentence:

The Superior Court has not set a date for arguments in McCullough's appeal.

That was May 19, 2016 (that's only 276 days ago) and nothing's been reported since - nor has Chuck started his 2 1⁄2 to five year sentence.

So what do you say to someone for their 8 year anniversary of an an arrest that lead to a conviction and sentencing for a prison term that's still hasn't begun?

Considering what Chuck was found guilty of, I'd go with this: Happy Anniversary Chuck, may you get an attorney just like you to be your Power-Of-Attorney when you get old.

How Long Has It Been??

Hey, you remember former County Councilman Chuck McCullough, right?

You remember that 52-page document that a Grand Jury presented?  Here's how the P-G described it:

A county grand jury today handed up a 52-page presentment that alleges Mr. McCullough, an attorney, and his sister, Kathleen A. McCullough, bilked money from the $14.5 million trust fund of an Upper St. Clair widow, Shirley H. Jordan, 90.

The investigation began after an article appeared in the Post-Gazette in April 2007 in which Mrs. Jordan denied that she donated $10,000 to each of four political candidates the year before, according to an affidavit that accompanied the arrests of Mr. McCullough and his sister.

And so on.  Did you see the date on that?

Chuck McCullough was arrested a little more than 5 years ago.

Has there been a trial yet?

Um, no.  In fact an astute reader emailed a legal document to me a few days ago.  Here's the first paragraph:

Appellant, Charles P. McCullough, appeals from the denial of his pre-trial motions to dismiss criminal charges, pursuant to this Court’s grant of McCullough’s pro se petition for review on May 23, 2012. After careful review, we affirm the trial court’s pre-trial rulings.

If I am reading the rest of it correctly (and as I am not an attorney, that's always a possibility), it says that McCullough's appeal to have the charges dropped were denied.  A point reinforced by my astute reader, who wrote:

Basically the Superior Court dismissed his appeal of the lower court's refusal to dismiss the charges. I assume he will now appeal to Pa. Supreme Court. If he loses there, I would think there is no reason the trial can't finally start, subject, of course, to whatever legal maneuvers he has up his sleeve. To me, the most interesting thing is that he is representing himself.

So how long has it been?

Let's put this in some context.

• Jerry Sandusky was arrested in November 2011 and he was found guilty the following July.
• Richard Poplawski killed three police officers in April 2009 and he was found guilty in June 2011
• Jane Orie was indicted in April 2010 and was convicted March 2012

I am NOT saying that McCullough is guilty.  He has every assumption of innocence until proven guilty that everyone else has.  Nor am I saying that he's been charged with anything as heinous as killing a police officer or raping young boys.

What I AM asking is this: How is it that such high profile cases as Sandusky, Poplawski and Orie can go to trial and our friend Chuck is still filing appeals?

CHUCK MCCULLOUGH ARRESTED

From the P-G:

Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough was arrested and arraigned today on nearly two dozen counts following an investigation last year of his handling of an elderly widow's trust funds.

A county grand jury today handed up a 52-page presentment that alleges Mr. McCullough, an attorney, and his sister, Kathleen A. McCullough, bilked money from the $14.5 million trust fund of an Upper St. Clair widow, Shirley H. Jordan, 90.

And PXI has the perp walk.

The P-G has the criminal complaint.

More from the P-G:

This afternoon, the attorney representing Mr. McCullough said that he was "surprised and very disappointed," by the criminal charges.

Following the publication of the Post-Gazette stories, said Attorney Clifford Levine, Allegheny County Orphan's Court required Mr. McCullough and Northwest Savings Bank, which oversaw Ms. Jordan's trust, to provide a thorough accounting of expenditures. That was done in May 2007, and in August 2008, the court signed off on it, Mr. Levine said.

"We thought that matter had been put to rest, and we could move past that."

Notice anything interesting? Republican McCullough's attorney is Clifford Levine. This Clifford Levine:

Pittsburgh attorney Clifford Levine, who was chairman of the fundraiser [of June, 2007], said 225 people participated in the event, which raised about $150,000 for Obama's campaign.

"The luncheon was extremely successful," Levine said.

The event helped expand the campaign's Western Pennsylvania steering committee, Levine said. The committee hopes to have Obama return to Pittsburgh in the fall for "a big community rally," he said.

THAT must've been an interesting first meeting!

It should be noted that I interviewed Attorney Levine a number of months ago when I sat in for Lynn Cullen.

UPDATE: Something interesting from page 8 of the Complaint:

18 4906A FALSE REPORTS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTH M2 1 COUNT

The actor knowingly gave false testimony namely ON APRIL 18, 2007 DEFENDANT KNOWINGLY AND FALSELY REPORTED TO UPPER ST. CLAIR POLICE DEPARTMENT THAT DENNIS RODDY HARASSED SHIRLEY H. JORDAN WHEN NO SUCH INCIDENT OF HARASSMENT BY DENNIS RODDY HAD OCCURRED to a law enforcement officer with intent to implicate another in violation of 18 Pa. C. S. § 4906(a) [Caps in original]

So whether the handling of the Ms Jordan's funds is illegal (and let's remember McCullough is innocent until proven guilty) there's the side issue of the false reports to law enforcement.

That can't be good. For Chuck.