Bunny Welsh should accept responsibility for her crime

This past week, the former Chester County sheriff, Bunny Welsh, and her live-in boyfriend, Harry McKinney, were sentenced after having been criminally charged with Diversion of Services and Theft by Unlawful Taking by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.

It is, of course, a sad day when a public official, elected by the taxpayers of Chester County, is sentenced for betraying their trust by stealing their hard earned tax dollars. The public must be able to have faith in their elected officials, and that is why my office looked into this matter after we received a multitude of complaints raising questions about possible corruption and abuse of office by the former sheriff and Mr. McKinney, which focused on the Sheriff’s K-9 Unit.

Based on the authority granted to the controller by the Pennsylvania County Code, we reviewed the information received and conducted additional inquiries. During the course of our inquiries, my office obtained information, documents and data related to “fundraising” for the K-9 Unit, indicating there was potential criminal conduct including possible fraud and misappropriation or misuse of resources, employees, and assets paid for by county taxpayers. At that point, and as required by the County Code, we stopped the inquiry and turned the information we had gathered over to the former Chester County District Attorney.

The former District Attorney recused himself because of contributions made to the K-9 Unit and referred the matter to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.

The matter was investigated over the course of two years, finally lending itself to criminal charges in 2021. The couple pleaded “nolo contendere” to the charges against them, or no contest, which means they entered pleas without actually assuming responsibility for their crimes.

To be very clear, the “fundraising” efforts of Ms. Welsh and Mr. McKinney did not fund the purchase and training of the K-9s, food, veterinary services, salaries of K-9 Unit deputies, customization or maintenance of K-9 vehicles. Those expenses have always been, and continue to be, paid for with taxpayer dollars, grants and private sponsors.

In the words of Attorney General Josh Shapiro “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. Enforcing the law does not put you above it.”

I am thankful that the voices of those concerned citizens, brave enough to speak up and report what they knew, are finally being heard and the criminality was brought to light.

While we would have preferred to see Ms. Welsh and Mr. McKinney accept responsibility for their actions with more than a “no-contest” plea, we are pleased that nearly $40,000 of taxpayer money has been returned.

Our office remains committed to pursuing additional reimbursement of inappropriate taxpayer expenditures made by the former sheriff and her boyfriend.

Margaret Reif