Ex-sheriff
ney agreed that those were the essence of the charges against them. Neither addressed the court except to answer Madenspacher’s questions about their decision to enter the pleas in the case instead of proceeding to trial.
As explained by Madenspacher during his separate discussions with the two defendants, a no contest plea means that although they are not admitting their culpability to the charges against them, for all intents and purposes the court can treat them as though they had been found guilty. They will be sentenced at a later date — the charges are punishable by a maximum of two years in state prison, although it is highly unlikely that such punishment awaits the pair — and will carry a criminal conviction on their records.
“For all practical purposes it is a guilty plea,” Madenspacher told Welsh, who entered her plea ahead of McKinney. “There is not a whole lot of difference. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” answered Welsh. Attorneys for the two sides — Deputy Attorney General Megan Madaffari and defense attorneys Geoffrey Johnson, representing Welsh, and Coley Reynolds, representing McKinney — did not present Madenspacher with a negotiated sentence in the cases. Thus, whatever punishment the couple face — incarceration, probation, or a combination of the two — will apparently be up to Madenspacher. The judge ordered a pre-sentencing investigation by the county Adult Probation Office and said that he would schedule sentencing sometime in the next 60 days.
Whatever the sentence, the misdemeanor convictions have another, perhaps more significant impact on Welsh, 77, and McKinney, 65, who share a home in Pennsbury.
Because the two were not charged with and did not enter pleas on felony charges of thefts committed while in public office, they will not face forfeiture of their county pensions. Had they been convicted felons, they would have had to forfeit their pensions the day they entered their pleas, according to a law signed in 2019.
According to county records, Welsh, who served as the county’s elected sheriff from 2000 to 2020, earned $75,732 in her final years in office, and now collects a monthly pension of $2,920. McKinney, who worked for the county in various capacities in the Sheriff’s Office and Health Department, ended his career in January 2020 after 35 years with a salary of $61,347. He collects a monthly pension of $4,580.
None of the attorneys commented on the pleas, telling Madenspacher they would reserve their comments for the date of sentencing. None discussed with Madenspacher why the prosecution had allowed the couple to enter no contest rather than guilty pleas.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro, however, issued the following statement Tuesday afternoon.
“Welsh and McKinney took advantage of their positions of authority, and illegally used public resources meant to serve the residents of Chester County to staff private fundraisers,” he said. “Enforcing the law does not put you above it. We will continue to shut down corruption wherever it is found.”
The ignominious nature of the proceeding on Tuesday — Welsh is the first elected official to be convicted of a crime since the late county commissioners Chairman Theodore S.A. Rubino, who was convicted on federal charges of extortion in 1977 — belied the mundane nature of what went on in the courtroom Tuesday.
Welsh and McKinney and their attorneys arrived well before the 9:30 a.m. start time of what was listed on the court’s docket as a status hearing on the case. When the attorneys went to a jury room to confer with Madenspacher about what their intentions were, the couple — Welsh, dressed in a long black sweater and red and black printed blouse and McKinney dressed in a blue blazer and Rey slacks — sat side by side, mostly silent.
“It is what it is,” Welsh commented at one point.
After they filled out the no contest plea documents that would be presented to the judge, Welsh and Reynolds chatted amiably, mostly about local, state and national politics, discussing everything
from who is running for county Common Pleas court to the legacy of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Politics is a favorite subject of Welsh, who was active in county Republican Party circles for two decades. In 2015, she became an ardent supporter of Donald J. Trump as he sought the GOP nomination for president, and appeared with the former real estate mogul on several occasions at the White House, sitting next to Trump during press availabilities.
Despite his relative unpopularity in the county — he lost the vote in 2020 by more than 53,000 votes — and the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — Welsh continues to show her allegiance to him proclaiming herself “National Co-Chair of American Sheriffs for Trump” on her Facebook page.
The two were charged by the state Attorney general’s Office with the counts of diversion of services and theft by unlawful taking in November.
The charges grew out of an investigation into the fundraising activities of the Friends of the Chester County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, which was operated out of the office that Welsh headed for 20 years, by the county Controller’s Office.
Special Agent Sean McGlinn said in a criminal complaint that Welsh placed McKinney in a supervisory role in the Sheriff’s Office, even though he carried an entry-level work classification. From that position, according to the complaint, McKinney utilized the resources of the office to conduct all the fundraising for the office, but primarily the private fundraising for the K-9 Unit that the two had initiated in the mid-2000s.
Even though expenses for the K-9 Officers were paid for by grants, community donations, and private contributions, McKinney was put in sole charge of raising and dispersing those funds, absent any other county or official oversight, according to the arrest affidavit.