Team 4: Allegheny County Had Ex-Workers, Dead People On Gas Card List

Team 4 Investigator Paul Van Osdol Reports

POSTED: 4:39 pm EDT July 28, 2008

UPDATED: 6:09 pm EDT July 28, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- The following is a transcript of a report by Team 4 investigative reporter Paul Van Osdol that first aired July 28, 2008, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

With these high gas prices, you would think Allegheny County would keep close tabs on who's allowed to buy gas on the taxpayer's dime.

But Team 4 found dozens of former county employees -- including a convicted felon and four dead people -- still authorized to use county gas cards. Or at least, they were until Team 4 got involved.

The good news for taxpayers is none of the ex-employees was actually buying gas, but we found other cases that raised concerns for county officials -- including hundreds of missing receipts and a sheriff's deputy whose card was used by someone else while she was on maternity leave.

Allegheny County authorizes more than 1,500 people to use gas cards. You'd think all of them would be county employees, but they're not.

The list includes Mark Short, a former county police officer who was fired four years ago after being convicted of stealing ammunition while a member of the SWAT team.

It also includes former county police superintendent Ken Fulton, who retired more than four years ago.

And it includes two former sheriff's deputies, a former police officer and a former health department employee who are all dead.

In all, Team 4 found 73 former employees still authorized to use gas cards. They did not all have cards, but they all still had PINs allowing them to buy gas on the county tab anywhere if they got access to a county gas card.

We took our findings to county Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

"Their names should have been off that list, and they are now," Onorato said.

"There weren't any dead people buying gas, but the fact that you had dead people on this list -- that has to be a concern, right?" Van Osdol said.

"It is, because they should technically have been taken off. I'd be more concerned if you came to me and said there are people buying gas who should not be buying gas," Onorato said.

But we did find numerous purchases using the gas card of Stacy Haines, now Stacy Demasi -- a sheriff's deputy who is not driving a county car these days because she's on maternity leave.

Sheriff Bill Mullen says her card was used by another deputy and that was against the rules.

"Why he used the other deputy's (card) and why he didn't tell us his employee ID number was not working is a mystery. There's some questions he has to answer," Mullen said.

We also found 28 non-employees who are allowed to use gas cards because they contract with the county. That includes an intern in the health department; two employees of 3 Rivers Wet Weather, a nonprofit that works for the health department; and several people contracting for emergency services.

"They were legally doing work for the county, and the gas card was part of that contract," Onorato said.

One of the emergency services contractors bought gas at a conference in Indiana and several other locations without turning in receipts.

He's not alone. We found hundreds of cases where employees failed to turn in receipts. The sheriff's office even sends regular monthly memos detailing all their missing receipts.

"Not having receipts is simply unacceptable. If somebody hasn't turned them in, we'll make sure they go back and find them and fill in the hole where there's a lack of documentation," Onorato said.

But one of those missing receipts belonged to Onorato. A log sheet says he paid cash for a fill-up last October and did not submit a receipt.

"There was one example where you didn't turn in a receipt. Do you remember that?" Van Osdol said.

"I don't remember that. I'm pretty good at turning in my receipts," Onorato said.

All of this is a big concern for Republican county Councilwoman Jan Rea.

"That creates a serious problem for taxpayers. It's just a bad government practice that needs to be stopped," Rea said.

In the wake of our investigation, the county has taken former employees and deceased employees off its list of authorized gas card users.

Onorato tells me he wants to know if the county can cut down on the number of people issued gas cards. That number totaled 1,588 as of last month, but that included the former employees and the deceased employees who are now off the list.

In the first six months of this year, county gas card users have bought $810,000 worth of gas. That's way ahead of last year's expenses, which totaled $1.3 million for the entire year.

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