Woman charged in connection with theft of $250K from Fort Pitt Block House fund

A Pine woman who served as treasurer for the organization overseeing the historic Fort Pitt Block House is accused of embezzling more than half of the $500,000 the nonprofit organization had in its coffers to preserve Pittsburgh’s oldest building.

An Allegheny County Police detective on Thursday charged Rebecca Catherine Stein, 33, of the 300 block of Rosecliff Road with felony counts of theft and receiving stolen property along with a count of misappropriation of funds.

She was released from custody on her own recognizance and ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing before District Judge William Wagner on Aug. 30.

Investigators accused Stein of using her power as treasurer of the Fort Pitt Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution to write checks totaling more than $277,000 to make payments on 13 credit cards, according to criminal complaint.

The Fort Pitt Society was created in 1892 to accept donations to preserve the Fort Pitt Block House, which is the only remaining part of Fort Pitt. The Society is comprised of members of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Built in 1764, the building was first used to defend the fort from attacks by Native Americans during the mid-18th century, according to the organization.

After the British abandoned Fort Pitt in 1772, the blockhouse was used as a trading post and eve for a number of years The 250th anniversary of the blockhouse was celebrated in 2014.

The organization’s officials became suspicious in January after a representative from the company managing its four investment accounts, which totaled about $500,000, warned them that if spending continued at the pace it had during the previous two years the money would be gone, according to a criminal complaint.

The Fort Pitt Society’s revenue comes from grants, donations, fundraisers and the profits from souvenirs sold at the blockhouse, investigators said.

Interest earned on the organization’s $500,000 typically covers the $40,000 annual cost of salaries, insurance and other operating expenses such as the wholesale cost of buying the souvenirs sold in the gift shop, the complaint said.

Stein was elected the treasurer in May 2018 and was the only person authorized to write checks for the organization; the statements for the accounts were sent sent to her home in Pine, investigators said.

Suspicions also were raised after Stein was elected regent, or president of the organization, in May 2022 but failed to give the incoming treasurer the computer where the accounting information was stored until October, the complaint said.

Stein also failed to add give the new treasurer authorization to access the accounts until the middle of January, investigators said.

An internal review of financial statements dating back to 2018 revealed that scores of checks in amounts ranging from $172 to $18,000 were written out to Stein and signed by her, the complaint said. A search warrant for the banking records showed that from 2019 to 2023, Stein signed 101 checks totaling $315,332 that were written to herself.

Authorities said in the complaint that Stein falsified entries in the QuickBooks accounting software to try to conceal that she was writing checks to herself, the complaint said.

The amount Stein is accused of stealing was reduced to about $277,000 after investigators determined that some of the purchases were made to benefit the organization, the complaint said.

The organization’s officials told police that any payments for things that are not regular, recurring expenses must be approved by the board of directors, but none of the checks Stein wrote out were authorized, the complaint said.

When police got a warrant for Stein’s bank records, they discovered she was making payments for purchases made with eight bank credit cards as well as cards issued by Banana Republic, Macy’s, Nordstrom, L.L. Bean and Best Buy, according to the complaint.