Cortland DA wants arrested Pharsalia supervisor to pay taxpayers back
CHENANGO – Pharsalia Town Supervisor Dennis Brown has pleaded not guilty to stealing more than $123,000 from taxpayers and his case is being prosecuted by the Cortland County District Attorney's Office.
“The case has been transferred to my office as a special prosecutor due to Mr. Brown being involved in local politics and local judiciary in Chenango County,” explained Cortland County DA Patrick A. Perfetti Tuesday.
On April 10 the New York State Comptroller's Office announced it had discovered more than $123,000 worth of town funds were missing following a year-long audit. The office said a criminal investigation by New York State Police arrested Brown for stealing the money to fund his personal lifestyle, pad his salary, and pay his bills.
Brown remains the longest serving Chenango County supervisor and has been on the board for 35 years. He sits on the county’s finance and public works committees.
Brown, 70, of South Plymouth, is charged with 2nd degree grand larceny, scheme to defraud, defrauding the government, corrupting the government and public corruption.
Perfetti said he had not ruled out a plea deal being reached in the case, saying it would greatly depend on a guilty plea and the need for restitution, with Brown paying back all, if not most of the alleged stolen funds.
“Whenever dealing with financial crime, restitution is a key issue. The numbers in this case are big. It's unclear if the defendant could reach any level of restitution suitable for the issuing of a plea deal, we don't know at this point,” said Perfetti.
“I consider this case different,” he added, “Because this is a public official dealing with money in the public treasury and there are issues of public integrity involved – this is not the normal violation of trust by an employee, but a violation of the public trust.”
The DA said Brown had been allowed to remain out of jail because the crime was not violent in nature, the defendant's age, ties to the local community, and ongoing medical needs.
On Tuesday Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairmen Lawrence N. Wilcox said the board would not take action over any allegations unless Brown pleaded guilty in court.
Wilcox said he had not spoke with Brown since the day before his arrest was announced April 8.
Asked if Brown should resign Wilcox respond, “In my opinion no. He is elected by the people of the Town of Pharsalia and until he is convicted of a felony he has every right to be a supervisor.”
Wilcox said Brown had not been to the county office building since his arrest.
“I'm just as awestruck by it as everyone,” said Wilcox. He has served as a supervisor for 22 of the 35 years Brown has been a supervisor.
Asked what people would have said about Brown prior to the allegations Wilcox said. “They would say he was a very upstanding person, an advocate for the taxpayers.”
Asked if he would still agree with those comments in light of the charges, Wilcox responded, “I'm going to wait and see what the court decides.”
Wilcox said all the current allegation involved the Town of Pharsalia exclusively and not the county. He said the county had it's own recent audits with the state, and they produce no evidence of impropriety.
According to court records between 2013 and 2018, without the town boards knowledge, Brown wrote checks to himself on behalf of the Town of Pharsalia worth about $61,000. Investigators said he used the money to pay debts.
According to the court documents “...by writing checks from the General Fund to himself as extra salary, and by buying materials to build a shed on his property from funds taken from the Town General Fund. This course of action occurred over several years without the consent or approval of the town board.”
According to court records Brown allegedly used the funds to also increase his salary by an additional $20,000 a year, stealing a total of $40,000.
On April 10 Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said, “Since 2010, Mr. Brown allegedly cheated his neighbors out of over a hundred thousand dollars by using public funds for his pleasure and daily expenses.”
According to DiNapoli Brown allegedly used the town’s credit card to spend at least $123,273 in total, funding his personal lifestyle, including vacations in Myrtle Beach and New York City, fees for PayPal, Amazon and iTunes, and designer handbags, liquor and cooking classes. Brown also allegedly used town funds to pay all of his home telephone, internet and electric bills.
Mr.Brown did not respond to requests for comment.
Pictured: Cortland County DA Patrick A. Perfetti (Submitted photo)
“The case has been transferred to my office as a special prosecutor due to Mr. Brown being involved in local politics and local judiciary in Chenango County,” explained Cortland County DA Patrick A. Perfetti Tuesday.
On April 10 the New York State Comptroller's Office announced it had discovered more than $123,000 worth of town funds were missing following a year-long audit. The office said a criminal investigation by New York State Police arrested Brown for stealing the money to fund his personal lifestyle, pad his salary, and pay his bills.
Brown remains the longest serving Chenango County supervisor and has been on the board for 35 years. He sits on the county’s finance and public works committees.
Brown, 70, of South Plymouth, is charged with 2nd degree grand larceny, scheme to defraud, defrauding the government, corrupting the government and public corruption.
Perfetti said he had not ruled out a plea deal being reached in the case, saying it would greatly depend on a guilty plea and the need for restitution, with Brown paying back all, if not most of the alleged stolen funds.
“Whenever dealing with financial crime, restitution is a key issue. The numbers in this case are big. It's unclear if the defendant could reach any level of restitution suitable for the issuing of a plea deal, we don't know at this point,” said Perfetti.
“I consider this case different,” he added, “Because this is a public official dealing with money in the public treasury and there are issues of public integrity involved – this is not the normal violation of trust by an employee, but a violation of the public trust.”
The DA said Brown had been allowed to remain out of jail because the crime was not violent in nature, the defendant's age, ties to the local community, and ongoing medical needs.
On Tuesday Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairmen Lawrence N. Wilcox said the board would not take action over any allegations unless Brown pleaded guilty in court.
Wilcox said he had not spoke with Brown since the day before his arrest was announced April 8.
Asked if Brown should resign Wilcox respond, “In my opinion no. He is elected by the people of the Town of Pharsalia and until he is convicted of a felony he has every right to be a supervisor.”
Wilcox said Brown had not been to the county office building since his arrest.
“I'm just as awestruck by it as everyone,” said Wilcox. He has served as a supervisor for 22 of the 35 years Brown has been a supervisor.
Asked what people would have said about Brown prior to the allegations Wilcox said. “They would say he was a very upstanding person, an advocate for the taxpayers.”
Asked if he would still agree with those comments in light of the charges, Wilcox responded, “I'm going to wait and see what the court decides.”
Wilcox said all the current allegation involved the Town of Pharsalia exclusively and not the county. He said the county had it's own recent audits with the state, and they produce no evidence of impropriety.
According to court records between 2013 and 2018, without the town boards knowledge, Brown wrote checks to himself on behalf of the Town of Pharsalia worth about $61,000. Investigators said he used the money to pay debts.
According to the court documents “...by writing checks from the General Fund to himself as extra salary, and by buying materials to build a shed on his property from funds taken from the Town General Fund. This course of action occurred over several years without the consent or approval of the town board.”
According to court records Brown allegedly used the funds to also increase his salary by an additional $20,000 a year, stealing a total of $40,000.
On April 10 Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said, “Since 2010, Mr. Brown allegedly cheated his neighbors out of over a hundred thousand dollars by using public funds for his pleasure and daily expenses.”
According to DiNapoli Brown allegedly used the town’s credit card to spend at least $123,273 in total, funding his personal lifestyle, including vacations in Myrtle Beach and New York City, fees for PayPal, Amazon and iTunes, and designer handbags, liquor and cooking classes. Brown also allegedly used town funds to pay all of his home telephone, internet and electric bills.
Mr.Brown did not respond to requests for comment.
Pictured: Cortland County DA Patrick A. Perfetti (Submitted photo)
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