Trial date set for longtime Upland councilman
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » Longtime Upland Borough Councilman Edward Mitchell has been scheduled for trial Jan. 29 before Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge John Capuzzi on theft and related charges.
Mitchell is charged with 88 offenses including felony theft, ethics and wiretapping violations in a $133,000 kickback scheme that includes allegations of planting hidden cameras in borough hall when he served as council president.
Capuzzi set the court date Friday after a hearing on motions filed by defense counsel William Davis. The judge has also set a Dec. 13 status hearing date.
Mitchell, 74, of Fourth Street in Upland, was arrested in December 2016 with Thomas Willard of Downingtown, the owner of Eddystone-based Logan Technology Solutions, who was charged with similar offenses.
Willard also is awaiting trial before Judge Capuzzi Dec. 5, according to online court records. Both men are free on $100,000 unsecured bail.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said at a press conference announcing the arrests in December that Mitchell and Willard received up to $133,000 in kickbacks for covert recording devices, cameras and security systems installed in Upland Borough buildings costs.
Authorities said video and audio equipment disguised as motion sensors for the building’s alarm system were installed in the secretary’s office and borough council chambers.
Whelan said he at inflated believed Mitchell went to Willard with the idea for the scam. Mitchell would allegedly 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.
Whelan also pointed to another instance where four dashboard cameras were ordered from Logan but never delivered. He said the $15,000 invoice for that equipment should have gone out to a telephonic bid, but that never happened.
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 that were also never delivered, the district attorney said.
When former Upland Police Chief Nelson Ocasio questioned Mitchell about the missing cameras, he was told not to investigate, according to Whelan.
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. Mitchell allegedly spent the kickbacks on personal expenses.
Davis moved for dismissal Friday based on a statute of limitations, but Assistant District Attorney Mary Mann said the criminal information listed an incorrect offense date of Jan. 1, 2009. The actual offenses for intercept communications took place between July 9, 2013, and March 3, 2016, when the cameras were discovered, according to Mann.
Capuzzi denied the motion to dismiss, but said he would take a separate motion to quash under consideration.
Davis was also seeking additional discovery items, including any cooperating agreements made with other borough officials. Mann indicated she had made no such agreements to date.
A status hearing in Mitchell’s case is set for Dec. 13.