Ex-Delmont official pleads guilty to theft, forgery; pays back $40,000

Delmont’s former secretary and treasurer on Thursday turned over a check for $40,000 as part of a guilty plea to charges she stole taxpayer money over a six-year period.

Karen Shola, 68, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty to felony counts of theft, forgery and receiving stolen property and was sentenced by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger to serve five years on probation.

As part of her sentence, Shola was ordered to pay nearly $49,000 in restitution, including the $40,000 check she brought to court on Thursday. The balance of the restitution owed will be paid to an insurance company, said Assistant District Attorney Judy Petrush.

Petrush said the plea deal included a mitigated sentence because of Shola’s age and the amount of restitution she repaid prior to the hearing.

Police said, since 2012, Shola wrote as many as 36 checks from the borough’s account and forged the name of Delmont officials as she used the funds to pay personal expenses, including a traffic citation issued to her last year. According to court records she also spent the money to pay her son’s utility bills, on office decorations, catalog shopping and background checks on people via Truthfinder.com.

“I paid bills and charge cards as they came in. That was on the charge card and I was not the only one who did that,” Shola told the judge during Thursday’s hearing. “I am guilty of the errors.”

Krieger told Shola she was not pleading guilty to clerical errors but, rather, that she took the borough’s money.

Shola, formerly of Kiski Township in Armstrong County, worked for the borough for nearly 14 years before she resigned in 2018 following her arrest. She earned an annual salary of more than $33,100.

Krieger said Shola’s probation can be terminated early after all of the missing money is repaid.