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| Penn. Prison Officer Charged With Theft |
| By The Morning Call |
| Published: 04/05/2002 |
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A Northampton County Prison corrections officer who faces 197 felony charges admitted that he stole nearly $17,000 from inmate accounts, investigators said. Richard W. Duffell, 28, of Washington, N.J., turned himself in Thursday morning at the office of District Justice Gay Elwell in Easton and was released on $100,000 unsecured bail, District Attorney John M. Morganelli said. Duffell is charged with 104 counts of theft and 93 counts of forgery. According to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Robert A. Miklich, Duffell during an interview Feb. 25 ''related after being advised of his constitutional rights that for the years 2000 and 2001, he has been removing money orders, checks and cash from the Northampton County Prison [and] cashing them.'' He forged the names of inmates on the money orders and checks, the complaint says. The amounts stolen ranged from $5 to $557. All charges are for money credited to inmate accounts from Jan. 19 to Dec. 7, 2001. Morganelli said more charges would be filed if investigators can confirm earlier thefts. In all, according to the criminal complaint, Duffell pocketed $1,264 in cash from 11 inmate accounts and forged 93 checks and money orders to get the other $15,513. Kathleen A. Kuzma, the county's lead auditor, said the county is the victim of the thefts because Duffell credited the inmates' accounts with the money on a computer. Kuzma said the scheme was possible because a new computer system installed in 1999 made it possible to enter the amounts in inmate accounts, the prison is short-staffed and supervisors did not review some of the transactions. All the stolen money was entered into inmate accounts when Duffell was responsible for recording the transactions, Kuzma said. Duffell has worked at the prison since August 1998 and was paid about $31,000 a year. He was placed on unpaid status weeks ago. H. James Smith, director of corrections at the prison, issued a news release. ''It has been the Department of Corrections' policy to assist in the prosecution of employees who have broken both the public trust and the trust of their fellow employees by engaging in alleged criminal conduct,'' the release says. Smith in the release thanks the county controller's office for ''diligent review'' of the matter. However, the release says, ''As this matter is still under investigation, no further information may be provided at this time.'' |
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