Former Allegheny County councilman Charles McCullough ordered to begin prison sentence

A former Allegheny County councilman convicted of stealing from a widow’s estate more than five years ago must report to court Tuesday to begin serving a prison term.

Charles McCullough filed a last-ditch emergency motion with the state Supreme Court on March 31, seeking both to stay the subpoena ordering him to appear and to modify his sentence.

However, in a three-line order on Monday, the court denied McCullough’s request.

He is to appear before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

McCullough, now representing himself, was found guilty in a bench trial of five counts of theft and five counts of misapplication of funds, stemming from work he did as a power of attorney for an elderly Upper St. Clair woman.

He initially was charged in 2009. It took six years before the case went to trial, and it has been more than five years that he has tried to get out of the prison sentence imposed on him in December 2015.

In February, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to accept his appeal, clearing the way for him to begin serving his sentence.

However, in his emergency motions, McCullough, 66, outlined a number of reasons why he should not be required to go to state prison.

Among them, he listed medical conditions — including a shoulder with torn tendons that requires surgery — and a fear of contracting covid-19 in the prison system.

“When defendant was sentenced in December 2015, he was in excellent health with no known health issues, save for one that was in remission,” he wrote. “That changed a year later when defendant blacked out and fell backward, completely (unconscious), onto the bathroom floor.”

As for the shoulder injury, McCullough said he fell on ice over the winter.

“The shoulder injury has had a significant, adverse impact on defendant’s daily living,” he wrote in his motion. “Defendant is no longer able to lift his 19-month-old granddaughter with his right arm.”

McCullough needs surgery, the motion continued, but his doctor has said he should not have it or rehabilitation while in prison because “the prison environment is hardly conducive to a safe recovery.”

“Defendant would be defenseless in prison which is for the most part populated by much younger men, some being no more than one-third of defendant’s age and who will outweigh defendant by more than 100 pounds,” he wrote. “He would be at great risk of being seriously injured or killed by other inmates if incarcerated.”

Instead, McCullough suggests that he could have surgery as his doctor recommends and avoid covid by being allowed to serve his sentence on house arrest.

“The commonwealth is not prejudiced at all by the presentation of this motion as it will be spared the expense of having to house, feed, treat and care for defendant,” McCullough wrote. “The current sentence of 2½ to 5 years of incarceration may well be tantamount to a death sentence for defendant due to his age, health issues, susceptibility to covid-19 and his vulnerability to deadly assault by other inmates.”

If he is given house arrest, McCullough also asked permission to leave home daily for Mass, as well as medical appointments.