Published: October 21, 2009 11:17 pm      

Official accused of theft, forgery

NORTHERN CAMBRIA — A borough street official who also was supervising the water treatment plant when bacterial contamination was found during the summer has been charged with forgery and stealing from Northern Cambria Borough and its two water authorities

David Suchar, 49, was charged Tuesday with seven counts of unlawful taking and three counts of forgery before District Judge Michael Zungali.

He is accused of taking $4,800 in property from the borough, $11,256 in property from the Spangler water authority and $10,526 in property from the Northern Cambria Municipal Authority.

The son of Northern Cambria council President Mike Suchar, he was released on $75,000 unsecured bail.

Court documents list the victims as the borough, the Northern Cambria Municipal Authority, Spangler Municipal Authority and Thomas Leamer of Commodore.

Leamer is David Suchar’s father-in-law.

State police said he was victimized in a check fraud scheme in which local government agencies paid for materials never delivered.

Suchar denies the charges, saying he merely traded valuable items such as copper pipe and “did not take a dime.”

He told investigators he was guilty only of “falsifying, wheeling and dealing, and trading.”

The criminal charges are the result of a months-long state police investigation and were filed less than a week after the borough’s beleagured municipal authority hired a professional consulting firm to supervise the Northern Cambria water treatment plant, which Suchar had been managing.

The criminal charges against Suchar center partly around a check for $2,340 that Suchar allegedly deposited in his own account and later said it was for a borough “slush fund” for parties and parades, court documents say.

When questioned by state police, Suchar admitted to cashing the check, but said it went into the slush fund.

State police investigators later found that the funds were not put into that account.

And when questioned about missing copper pipe, investigators said Suchar replied that it was “in the ground.”

The other part of the charges center around supplies Suchar said he ordered from Leamer, his father-in-law, but Leamer said were never delivered.

Instead, Leamer told state police, Leamer received checks in the mail to cash and give to Suchar.

Leamer’s wife Dawn, Suchar’s mother-in-law, said that “as time wore on, David Suchar would call her or her husband and they would meet him at a bank and he would give them the checks, made payable to Thomas Leamer, and they would cash the checks in the bank and then turn the money over to David Suchar,” court documents say.

She told state police that neither she nor her husband received any of the money.

Suchar’s status with the borough was unclear Wednesday, and calls to the borough offices were not returned.

Suchar serves multiple roles with the borough, working as street commissioner and as manager of both Spangler and Northern Cambria water treatment plants.

His $36,904 annual salary has been paid by all three government entities – at least before the water authorities hired a consulting firm to manage their plants – $18,452, or

50 percent, from the borough, and $9,226 each, or 25 percent each, from the Northern Cambria and Spangler water authorities.

He was hired by the borough in 1996 and works about

20 hours per week as street commissioner.

He was hired by the water authorities in 2004 and has worked about 10 hours per week for each one, according to borough records.

It was under his watch that the state Department of Environmental Protection inspectors found malfunctioning equipment and water contamination.

DEP says the water is now safe to drink, but the agency is demanding further repairs and improvements to address what it terms “serious violations.”