Police pensions suspended for 2 former Greensburg officers convicted of drug crimes

Greensburg’s police pension board voted Monday to suspend benefits paid to two former officers, both of whom are serving sentences for federal drug crimes.

Notice of the suspensions will be provided to Shawn Denning, 41, of Delmont and Regina McAtee, 52, of New Kensington. They have 30 days to appeal from the date they receive the notice, according to city solicitors Lee Demosky and Zach Kansler.

“If they don’t request a hearing and that time period lapses, then the suspension becomes a termination,” Kansler said.

Denning and McAtee were sentenced separately this year in connection with a drug distribution conspiracy case that shocked the Greensburg community and upended their law enforcement careers. Federal prosecutors said Denning, the former chief, and Mc­Atee, who worked as an officer, 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.

Denning, a military veteran, was arrested at City Hall in early 2023 and resigned from the post he had held for about a year. He joined the department in 2008 and rose through the ranks to become chief.

He is serving a 15-month sentence 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.

After being with the city force for more than 19 years, McAtee was suspended without pay for five months following Denning’s arrest and retired in mid-2023. She was charged in March 2024 and pleaded guilty two months later to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

She’s serving a 36-month probation sentence.

Since her retirement, McAtee has received more than $110,000 in monthly pension payments.

Demosky said the city has the right to demand repayment of her pension benefits back to May 27, the date of her sentencing. Since then, McAtee received pension payments of $5,161 in June, July and twice in August, according to records obtained by TribLive. No payment was made in September.

Denning was not eligible to receive his pension.

“Even though he hasn’t received any pension benefits yet, he still has a pension account that he would be able to pull once he’s eligible,” Kansler said. “We’re going to deal with the termination under the forfeiture act now, rather than then.”

If pension benefits for both are terminated, they can still collect the amount they contributed without interest, Demosky said. Those amounts were not available Monday.

It was a long process to get to the point where the 14-member pension board could take action. City officials had to wait for the criminal cases to conclude, and Denning and McAtee have rights related to their benefits, Kansler said.

“If we’re going to deprive a citizen of a property right, they have to be given all due process. Otherwise, it’s an unlawful taking,” he said.

Kansler added: “You have to show a nexus between the conduct and the workplace. We did all due diligence to find out as much information as we could, and also we had to let their criminal processes play out and be finalized.”

In addition to the federal case, Denning was sentenced last month 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.