Pocono News Section

More Money Missing Than First Thought at Prothonotary's Office

More Money Missing Than First Thought at Prothonotary's Office - Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 6:25PM EST

Reported by: Andy Mehalshick
Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010 @ 06:25pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY -- The investigation into missing money from a Luzerne County office is expanding. There may be more money missing than first thought.

The I-Team broke the story of the theft investigation at the Luzerne County Prothonotary's Office. We know an employee has been suspended without pay and the new person in charge, Carolee Medico Olenginski, fears much more is missing.

The I-Team was given rare access Tuesday to the Prothonotary's Office in the Luzerne County Courthouse. Our cameras were allowed inside. The new Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski says she has noting to hide and says she found the office in disarray.

She takes over as county detectives investigate missing money. An employee was suspended without pay, but Olenginski says the amount of money appears to be much greater than expected.

"We started off today with the auditors thinking they were just going to go a couple of months. Now we must go back a good amount of years," she said.

Olenginski was elected last year and replaced former Prothonotary Jill Moran who resigned in the midst of the federal corruption probe. Moran is not accused of wrongdoing but Olenginski says the theft could have been prevented. Ironically Moran defeated Olenginski in 2002 to take control of the office.

"My take on it is poor management because of the policies I put I place to protect the funds were discontinued. If they were in place it wouldnÕt have been easy for someone to mishandle funds," said Olenginski.

For taxpayers this latest scandal is par for the course. Adam Hobson said, "I believe there were a lot of people doing that kind of stuff for a lot of years, so many years theyÕre pockets were being lined. These dinosaurs have to leave. The corrupt dinosaurs have to leave."

Olenginski says the amount of money that was stolen or misappropriated could be in the tens of thousand of dollars.