By Pamela Lehman
The Morning Call
HELLERTOWN, Pa. — Agnes Patterson, the longtime treasurer of the Dewey Fire Company, said she “betrayed the people and their trust” after admitting to stealing more than $395,000 from the Hellertown company by using credit and debit cards for gambling and entertainment, authorities say.
Patterson, 51, of Hellertown is charged with felony counts of theft, access device fraud and misdemeanor charges of misapplication of entrusted property after a monthlong investigation by a Northampton County grand jury.
Patterson, of the 500 block of Henry Street, surrendered to police Wednesday and remains free on $10,000 bail. She could not be reached for comment.
Patterson was “removed” from her position as treasurer in July, authorities say, during an investigation that began with an audit of Dewey’s finances.
After Patterson was confronted about the missing money, she admitted to using the stolen funds to gamble at casinos along the East Coast, dine at restaurants and pay her personal bills.
According to court records:
In October, Dewey Fire Company President Michael Malone testified before the grand jury about an audit of fire department finances that had been conducted several months earlier.
Malone said on July 5, he was notified by the auditors that they had discovered “suspicious” bank card withdrawals.
Malone immediately sent an email to Patterson asking about the withdrawals because she was the only one with access to the fire department’s finances and had served as treasurer since 2002.
Patterson sent an email back saying the withdrawals were used to cash EMS payroll checks, but after a phone call from Malone, she admitted to taking the money, according to Malone’s testimony.
At a July 6 meeting, Patterson apologized to the fire department’s executive board, admitting she had “betrayed the people and their trust.” Patterson said the thefts started with a debit card and then “went deeper and deeper,” according to an audio recording of the meeting that was presented to the grand jury.
Although Patterson is unemployed and only received a $400 annual stipend from the fire company for the treasurer post, she said at the meeting she intended to “make the situation right.”
Malone testified that it wasn’t until Patterson’s admission at the meeting that he realized the fire company’s bank account even had a debit card.
In July, Northampton County Detective Gerard Walsh testified he collected all the bank records from the fire company from 2009 through this year. Walsh testified that Patterson was the only person handling the fire company’s finances, and would make personal purchases and cash advances on a Bank of America credit card, then go to Dewey’s Wells Fargo bank account to get money to pay the credit card bill.
Patterson used the money to gamble at casinos in Bethlehem and Wilkes-Barre, as well as New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, authorities said. Patterson told fire company officials she intended to pay the money back with her gambling winnings, but that never occurred.
In the years following her appointment, Patterson used the fire company’s finances to pay for trips to restaurants, movie theaters, a trip to Tennessee and to pay cellphone and medical bills, authorities said.
Patterson even used the stolen funds to pay an attorney, and for airline tickets and a weight-loss facility, investigators said.
Authorities later determined the total loss to the fire company was more than $395,000, according to court records.
Malone, the fire company president, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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