No criminal charges will be filed as part of the damages investigation in Mercer County, Pennsylvania: Prosecutor Pete Acker

MERCER COUNTY, Pa. (WKBN) – Mercer County District Attorney Pete Acker released a detailed document Saturday about the ongoing speculation about misappropriation of county finances, noting that no criminal charges should be filed against those involved .

It was alleged that two employees of the Controller’s Office received $6,000 worth of “additional funds” in addition to their assigned compensation. According to Acker’s report, a department under the commissioners’ supervision and control alleged that Controller Stephen Sherman II “embezzled” the funds.

However, Acker provided a definition of embezzlement before stating, “There was no embezzlement; There were payments to employees for overtime that were not properly authorized. … Some of the hours were worked at all hours of the day and night to get what needed to get done.”

Prosecutor Acker concluded that there were some problems with the incident, which was a violation of the Sunshine Law and county code.

The Sunshine Act gives the public notice and the right to be present at all meetings when additional salaries are being discussed and decided upon – something the District Attorney’s Office has charged the commissioners and controller with violating. Another issue Asker pointed out in his testimony related to the pay scale. Pursuant to county regulations, the salaries and compensation of all employees funded by the county treasury must be determined by the Salary Board in open meetings and with proper notice to the public.

Acker stated that all efforts to improve the situation stalled during the investigation, which he said was a mistake. The public prosecutor’s office recommends that a meeting of the salary committee be announced and that the board then meet to discuss a possible solution.

In the conclusion section of the document, the prosecution noted that the intent and purpose required for prosecution may not exist.

He concluded the document with the following statement:

“We have far more serious cases to pursue; We are convicting four murder cases by September.”