Tribune-Review
DERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A state trooper spent more than an hour on the witness stand Wednesday detailing dozens of individual checks totaling $67,069 that the former chief of the now-defunct Eastern Derry Volunteer Fire Department and its secretary admitted diverting from coffers for their personal use.
After listening to testimony from Trooper Robert Harr, District Judge Mark Bilik ruled that sufficient evidence was presented at the preliminary hearing for Derrick L. Bollinger, 36, and his wife, Regina, 24, of Derry, to stand trial in Common Pleas Court on charges of theft, dealing in proceeds of unlawful actions, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, theft by deception and conspiracy.
But Bilik wasn’t finished.
He admonished the couple before they left the courtroom.
“Besides the fact that Derry Township is now without one of its fire departments, another, perhaps bigger, problem is that many in the community are now hesitant to donate to the local fire company as a result of this. And that is extremely sad,” Bilik said.
After the Bollingers were arrested in August, accused of stealing $67,000 in department funds, the state auditor general released a three-year audit of the department showing $152,281 in undocumented spending between 2011 and 2014.
The department was forced to close in July 2014.
Harr testified that other firefighters went to state police in 2014 concerned that the department couldn’t pay its insurance premiums and was arrears on numerous loan payments for fire equipment and building improvements.
“One firefighter, Craig Stairs, said based on past experience from (township) grants, fundraisers such as the fish fries and dances, they believed there should have been enough money to cover those expenses,” Harr said.
Harr said some firefighters suspected the Bollingers were taking money from department accounts for personal expenses instead of paying bills.
The trooper reviewed the check ledger for 2012 through 2014 and interviewed department vendors, finding numerous discrepancies, he testified under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Pete Flanigan. He said many vendors claimed the fire department never paid them.
“The Bollingers created the false impression they were paying bills and then didn’t do so,” Harr said.
Harr said dozens of checks were written to “cash” from department funds and were paid out to the Bollingers or their business, D&G Construction.
In the check memo line, the couple usually specified a local vendor, Harr said, and indicated the money was for reimbursement of bills the Bollingers had paid.
Harr said the department received a $60,000 loan for improvements to the building, and the ledgers showed the Bollingers’ construction company received $40,000 for the work.
“When I questioned Derrick, he said he meant to do the work and did do some work, but when the department started to go downhill, he didn’t finish it,” Harr said.
Harr testified that he took photographs of work Bollinger did at the fire hall and it consisted of installing “only nine pieces of drywall.”
“There was very little completed. Most of the work was never done,” Harr said.
The day they received the $40,000 check for the work on Aug. 27, 2013, the Bollingers went to Grabiak Chevrolet in New Alexandria and put a $30,300 down payment on a 2011 GMC pickup truck, Harr alleges.
Harr said the couple initially denied they diverted the money. They said the truck down payment came from money they were bequeathed when a family member passed away, he said in court documents.
Harr said both Bollingers eventually admitted cashing department checks for their own use.
The Bollingers’ attorney, Mike Ferguson of Latrobe, said a plea bargain agreement was discussed before Wednesday’s hearing, and the talks likely will continue before a trial.
“Obviously, neither side was satisfied,” Ferguson said.
Because of the lack of contract documentation within the defunct department, he believes prosecutors will have a difficult time proving the complaints at trial.
“There are still considerable factual and legal issues remaining here,” Ferguson said.
The Bollingers remain free on $10,000 unsecured bond.
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