Greensburg’s police pension commission on Tuesday approved a decision that seeks the repayment of $75,400 by a retired officer who was sentenced to probation on federal drug crimes.
The commission OK’d the findings of fact, conclusions of law and decision regarding the forfeiture of pension benefits paid to Regina McAtee.
Attorney Lee Demosky said McAtee has 30 days to appeal to the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas. He served as hearing officer during a public session on McAtee’s appeal of the suspension of her benefits and took legal briefs from both sides before coming to a conclusion.
McAtee’s attorney, Lawrence Kerr, said he intends to appeal the decision.
“My client paid her debt when she was convicted in federal court,” he said. “The forfeiture law is piling on, is grossly unfair and, I believe, a violation of Pennsylvania law.”
McAtee’s pension benefits were suspended in September by the commission after she was sentenced to 36 months of federal probation in a drug distribution conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors said McAtee, 52, of New Kensington and then-police Chief Shawn Denning, 44, of Delmont ordered and paid for pills that contained methamphetamine from suppliers online between November 2020 and January 2023. Investigators said text messages showed the pair were working together.
After being with the city force for more than 19 years as an officer, McAtee was suspended without pay for five months following Denning’s 2023 arrest and retired later that year. She was charged in March 2024 and pleaded guilty two months later to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
She was sentenced in May. After the pension commission suspended her benefits, she appealed the decision and her attorney made legal arguments during a December public hearing.
Since her retirement, McAtee received nearly $150,000 in pension payments, according to the decision approved Tuesday. Her contributions into the fund totaled $74,000, excluding interest, and she’s allowed to keep that amount.
Denning wasn’t eligible to receive his pension. The pension commission in December authorized the return of nearly $62,000 in contributions he made. He did not appeal the suspension.
Denning, a military veteran, was sentenced last year to 15 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release after pleading guilty in April 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. He joined the department in 2008 and was arrested in 2023.
He is slated for release from prison next month, according to federal records.
In addition to the federal case, he was sentenced in August to three concurrent one-year probation terms in Westmoreland County court in connection with a backpack containing suspected steroids and psilocybin mushrooms that was missing from the city police evidence room. An audit of evidence was conducted after his arrest.
