Published Thursday, October 17, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
A former Hermitage receiver of taxes pleaded guilty Wednesday morning in Mercer County Common Pleas Court to embezzling $92,000 from the Hermitage School District, the city of Hermitage and an individual between 1988 and 1999.
Besides repaying the money, Rosemary Moses, 64, of 719 Hasenflu Drive, may also be ordered to pay another $10,000 in investigation costs, which included hiring the Sharon accounting firm Black, Bashor and Porsch to look over the books, said county Assistant District Attorney Brian Farrone.
Farrone said his office agreed to her plea because she agreed to pay back the money and to give up her pension. "We felt it wouldn't be equitable for her to repay the restitution from the money her (former) employers gave her," he said.
Mrs. Moses came under scrutiny after the school district's business manager, Eugene Fornadel, began asking questions about occupational tax refunds for city residents.
According to Farrone, investigators discovered Mrs. Moses had paid about $11,000 in refunds to residents, but the school had given her more than $50,000 in refund money over the 11 years. She was also accused of taking at least $38,000 from wage-tax payments and from an individual, Farrone said.
Fornadel said school directors covered the loss with the general fund, and any money Mrs. Moses repays will go back into that fund. City Manager Gary Hinkson said that the tax money was taken before it ever made it to city coffers and any repayments would be put into the general fund.
Fornadel said he was unable to get information about her pension, but her salary was about $37,000 when she retired in November 1999 after 17 years. Wednesday, Mrs. Moses was supposed to cash in an Individual Retirement Account, worth about $25,000, and turn it over as an initial payment, Farrone said. "We felt it was better to do it this way," he said.
She could face up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the misdemeanor charge of tax collector embezzlement, Farrone said. Mrs. Moses will continue to be released on her own recognizance until her sentencing hearing Dec. 31.
"It was brought up today that she had some significant health problems that could make it unduly harsh on her to serve time in jail," Farrone said of her sentencing, adding that the district attorney's office requested medical documentation be presented at that hearing.
Mrs. Moses was charged more than two years ago; the case was delayed five times.
Farrone explained that the difficulty in investigating the crime, which included finding missing tax records, contributed to the delays, as did mental-competency evaluations, Mrs. Moses' request for a lie-detector test and a courtroom renovation.
Mrs. Moses' attorney, Ray Bogaty, had no comment.