2 Baldwin Borough firemen charged in theft from fire fund
Aug. 25--The top two volunteer firefighters at a Baldwin Borough fire company turned themselves in Friday to face charges that they stole about $23,000 from a state-funded account set up to buy fire equipment for four fire departments in the borough.
Chief Leonard Novak of the Becks Run Independent Fire Co. and his assistant chief, Stephen Bonetti, were arraigned before District Judge John Bova and released on non-monetary bonds pending an Oct. 30 hearing.
The men are accused of pilfering money over a five-year period from the Baldwin Borough Firemen's Relief Association.
Baldwin police and detectives from the Allegheny County district attorney's office said Mr. Novak, 48, and Mr. Bonetti, 43, used association funds for their own benefit by falsifying invoices and forging signatures on checks.
They are accused of theft by deception, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, among other charges.
Detectives said Mr. Novak admitted to creating a total of 47 fake invoices on a firehouse computer, 37 of which were purportedly from Robert Christ, who works and builds equipment out of his house for the fire department. Of the 37 invoices, police said, 33 related Firemen's Relief Association checks were made payable to Mr. Christ and another four to Mr. Novak.
Mr. Christ told police that his signatures endorsed on the backs of the checks were forged and that Mr. Novak admitted to the forgeries.
Detectives said Mr. Novak, who cashed many of the checks at a local beer distributor, stole $16,540 that way.
An affidavit prepared by county police said Mr. Novak also created 10 other invoices purporting to be from L&M Sales. From those invoices, five association checks were made payable to L&M and five to Mr. Novak. Dave and Theresa Lehotsky, owners of L&M, said their endorsements on the backs of the checks were forged. Mr. Novak stole nearly $6,000 in that way, police said. Detectives said Mr. Bonetti conspired with the chief in the schemes.
When they knew they were under investigation, the men tried to mislead Baldwin Detective Tony Cortazzo by presenting him with the fake invoices, according to the affidavit.
Police also said Mr. Bonetti, who was the relief association's treasurer, tried to convince Caitlin Foster, secretary of the fire department and the association, to lie to police. Ms. Foster said she had signed five to seven blank checks a month at the request of Mr. Bonetti and had never inquired about why. After she received a message from Detective Cortazzo on July 13 asking for an interview, she said, Mr. Bonetti asked her not to admit to signing the blank checks.
She also said Mr. Bonetti later told her in person at the fire station that if she was ever asked about checks from the relief association, she should say she never signed blank checks.
When confronted with details of the investigation on Aug. 10, according to the affidavit, Chief Novak admitted what he had done. He said he needed the stolen money to take care of his children and to pay "rent and household expenses."
Torsten Ove: tove@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1510.
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