Ed Mitchell heads to trial for kickback scheme
Longtime Upland Borough Councilman Edward Mitchell is scheduled to be formally arraigned Aug. 6 in Common Pleas Court on myriad offenses involving an alleged $133,000 kickback scheme that includes allegations of planting hidden cameras in borough hall when he served as borough council president, according to online court records and charging documents.
Charged with felony theft and both ethics and wiretapping violations, Mitchell was held for court on a total of 88 offenses following a preliminary hearing July 6 before Magisterial District Judge James Merkins in Springfield.
“Many of the charges in my opinion were overcharged or overblown, and we look forward to our day in court,” John Flannery, Mitchell’s defense attorney, said Friday.
Flannery previously said that Mitchell denied all the allegations.
Mitchell, 74, of Fourth Street in Upland, was arrested back in December 2016, along with Thomas Willard of Downingtown, the owner of Eddystone-based Logan Technology Solutions, who was charged with similar offenses.
Mitchell was the third Republican borough leader, as well as a former police chief, snagged in 2016 in a legal wrangling – some of which are continuing to play out in the courtroom.
According to Flannery, Willard was among the two witnesses called to testify by the prosecution against his client at the preliminary hearing. The other witness was Detective Thomas Deery of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division who led the investigation, which dated back to 2009 and continued through March 2016.
Willard, who waived his preliminary hearing on March 2, 2017, is awaiting trial before Common Pleas Court Judge John P. Capuzzi Sr., according to online court records. A pre-trial conference in his case is scheduled July 31.
Both Mitchell and Willard are free on $100,000 unsecured bail.
In announcing their arrests at a December 2016 press conference, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan put the numerous allegations against Mitchell and Willard into three categories: Theft and kickbacks, ethics violations, and violations of the Pennsylvania wiretapping law.
According to the charges, Mitchell and Willard received up to $133,000 in kickbacks for covert recording devices, cameras and security systems installed at inflated costs throughout borough buildings in Upland.
Whelan said he believed Mitchell went to Willard with the idea for the scam. According to invoices and bank records reviewed during the investigation, Willard and his company were paid almost $1 million between 2009 and 2015 for various security-related projects.
According to authorities, video and audio equipment were installed sometime in 2013. A covert camera system installed in Upland’s borough hall was being disguised as the motion sensors for the building’s alarm system. There were three cameras – one in the secretary’s office and two in borough council chambersbrought to the attention of law enforcement by then-Mayor Michael Ciach.
Whelan previously said Mitchell would use check-cashing businesses to convert borough payments to cash instead of depositing funds into a regular business bank account. One Logan employee remembered cashing a check and delivering an envelope containing $5,000 in cash to Mitchell’s home, according to Whelan.
At the press conference, Whelan also pointed to another
According to the charges, Mitchell and Willard received up to $133,000 in kickbacks for covert recording devices, cameras and security systems installed at inflated costs throughout borough buildings in Upland.
instance where four dashboard cameras were ordered from Logan but never delivered. The district attorney said the $15,000 invoice for that equipment should have gone out to a telephonic bid, but that apparently never happened.
According to Whelan, when questions surfaced on the location of the cameras, Mitchell allegedly concocted a story that they were missing or had been stolen. He then instructed Willard to re-bill the borough for another $15,000 for replacement cameras, again never delivered, the district attorney said.
When former Upland Police Chief Nelson Ocasio questioned then-council President Mitchell about the missing cameras, he was told not to investigate, according to Whelan.
Mitchell allegedly spent the kickbacks on personal expenses.
The probable cause affidavit, authored by Detective Deery, states that Mitchell admitted receiving 25 to 30 kickbacks, possibly more. Mitchell told investigators the highest payout he received by Willard was $800.
Willard, the affidavit states, said he began paying Mitchell kickbacks “very early in his business dealing with Upland around 2010,” paying Mitchell 10 to 15 percent of his submitted invoices. Willard said Mitchell instructed him to keep all invoices under
$10,000 to avoid the bidding process, or break the invoices up into smaller amounts, the affidavit states. A review of cancelled checks paid to Willard and his company showed that checks totaling $750,000 were cashed by Willard at a check-cashing site in Delaware County.
As part of the investigation, a detective reviewed with an individual who has been in the security business for 40 years, invoices submitted by Willard to the borough. Though some costs were fair, the individual opined that “the vast majority of the costs for materials, installation and services were highly inflated compared to what he considered fair market value for the job,” the affidavit states.
An attempt to reach Willard’s
attorney, Timothy E. Possenti, after business hours Friday was unsuccessful.
Mitchell was ousted as council president in January 2016 by a vote of council. His replacement, Christine Peterson, was charged in February for allegedly forging the police chief’s signature on two 2015 time cards. Those charges were quickly withdrawn by the D.A.’s office for insufficient evidence.
Ocasio, who sought the charges against Peterson, was suspended under the orders of then-Mayor Ciach, and ultimately replaced. Ocasio has filed a complaint in federal court alleging discrimination and related claims for wrongful termination after arresting Peterson on forgery and theft charges.
Ciach was arrested Nov. 18, 2016, in Chester. Charged with DUI, accident involving unattended vehicle or property and failure to notify police regarding an accident, he waived a preliminary hearing on all the charges and is currently awaiting trial before Common Pleas Judge Mary Alice Brennan, authorities said Friday. He is free on $5,000 unsecured bail.
Ciach is currently serving as Upland borough manager.
Mitchell has been involved in Upland politics for 18 years, eight of them as council president. He was previously a member of the Chester Upland School Board. A source said he has been asked by council to resign from his current council seat in light of the allegations, but he has refused.