And no, the thief is not Ron Angle!After his election as Northampton County's Controller in 2007, Steve Barron became certified as a fraud examiner. Since then, he has teamed up with DA John Morganelli on about five investigations.
This obviously saves Morganelli and taxpayers the expense of hiring a fraud examiner. But in the case of Theresa Owns, it enabled her to recover $82,990.08 from Bangor resident Ronald LaBar, to whom she had made the mistake of granting a Power of Attorney.
Labar dipped into Owns' money to pay taxes on his home, personal bills totaling $7,934.17. He also wrote 58 checks made out to cash, which he signed and endorsed, totaling $11,380.00. Then he told Owns she was broke and would have to move.
Fortunately, this story has a happy ending for Owns. Morganelli and Barron were called in before everything, including Labar, was gone. Full restitution has been made.
Steve is justifiably proud of his role. "This is good government in action. Sharing resources and cooperating to provide good services to the citizens of Northampton County with no additional tax dollars needed.”
But its's not such a happy ending for Labar. He's been charged with theft and misapplication of entrusted property.
9 comments:
So how is this the function of the County controller?
It actually is not traditionally, but there is nothing wrong with helping another office out and saving the taxpayers money. Good job Mr. Barron!
Sounds more about political points than attending to the job he was elected to do.
So, the deal is,s I am the controller but while I play at "Robin Hood" to gain political capital, I am not minding the store regarding County functions.
The Longdmes are a sneaky bunch and Northampton won't be clean until all these Long Dem's are purged from office.
This particular Long Dem will have a formidable Republican challenger when he runs for re-election and another Longdem member of the Longdem kiddie-corps will be thrown out.
The Bright Future
Steve is no kind of goon. He's a good community minded man who will make an excellent County executive someday. The Anon on 3:14 AM can't stand that, so he tears Steve down.
It is good to see that Chris Casey endorses Bernie's "pick and choose" theory of politics. if I like a Longdem he is not a Long dem but if I don't like a Longdem he is a Long Dem.
How much ass kissing is too much Chris, to win Bernie's favor again?
Actually, no Longoon ever helped a widow recover $83,000. Steve has been a good Controller and has used his expertise to help someone. Only a twisted moron could complain about that, or anonymously slam someone for giving Steve a well-needed pat on the back.
The simple reality is that I fail to acknowledge what Steve is doing most of the time. I do not have his understanding of audits and have a difficult time explaining them. But he is working hard and would be the first to tell you he has a very good staff behind him.
What's sad about all this is that these attacks are not coming from the Rs, but from jealous Democrats who don't like to see someone so young succeed.
Ignore these cowardly trolls, Steve. The rest of us do.
We will see how the Republican candidate for Controller discusses the need for a Long Dem career politician come next year.
Your endorsed candidates have been shown to be lacking in many ways Ohare.
So, this will benefit the Northampton County Republican candidate.
So please keep propping up one of Longs kiddie Corps, it makes for more mailers. Handpicked Joe Long Democratic Treasurer who signed checks for criminal tom Severson. That is political gold baby. Republican red meat.
Thank you
Whomever whatever this is a story of Somebody going out of the box and dare I say actually helping someone!
KUDOS Mr.Barron you are a nice guy and I am sure the widow is grateful.
Great job and if this is how you operate,you are on my unsung hero's list!!!!
Coming from this month Ms. Weiss, that is a compliment? Just how did you lose your job??
???
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