Former legislator sentenced in probe of gambling
Marc Gergely, the former state representative linked through wiretapped phone conversations to an illegal milliondollar video gambling ring that once operated in the Mon Valley, was sentenced Monday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to 18 months of house arrest.
The ex-lawmaker, a White Oak Democrat, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy involving gambling devices and violating the state’s election law regarding cash contributions.
Judge Edward J. Borkowski presided over the case and tacked on three years of probation to the sentence.
Mr. Gergely, 48, along with prominent liquor license attorney Louis F. Caputo of Peters, pleaded guilty to criminal charges for helping Ronald “Porky” Melocchi place illegal gambling devices in various bars and other establishments in the Mon Valley. They gave the appearance of Melocchi having “friends in high places” to persuade reluctant business owners to install the devices, according to the prosecution.
The arrests of Mr. Gergely and Mr. Caputo were an extension of a probe dubbed “Operation Pork Chop” that led to the seizure of 335 video gambling machines in December 2012. That probe led to the arrests of 16 people in 2013, including Melocchi, a former McKeesport councilman and the former Forward police chief.
Mr. Gergely was arrested in February 2016. The affidavit supporting the charges stated
that Mr. Gergely used his political influence to help Melocchi, a longtime friend of the legislator’s father, get video poker machines into various bars and other establishments as part of his million-dollar enterprise.
In June 2015, Melocchi, 58, of West Newton, pleaded guilty to three offenses — a felony charge of corrupt organizations and misdemeanor counts of gambling devices and engaging in pool selling/bookmaking — in exchange for prosecutors dropping 54 other counts. He was sentenced to a decade of probation.
Mr. Caputo, 40, pleaded guilty in August to criminal solicitation and was sentenced to five years of probation.
Mr. Gergely resigned his seat in the Legislature on Nov. 6, the day his sentencing was initially scheduled.
Despite having pleaded guilty, Mr. Gergely will keep his pension. Staff at the State Employees’ Retirement System determined that the crimes to which he pleaded were not ones that required him to forfeit his pension.
State law requires public employees to automatically forfeit their pensions if they are convicted of crimes falling into at least one of 23 categories. Two nearly identical bills in the Senate would seek to expand that list of crimes.
“Mr. Gergely has never been in trouble before,” argued his attorney, Charles J. Porter Jr., seeking leniency for his client before the judge, adding that the former lawmaker had ac-cepted responsibility for his crimes, and that others who had pleaded guilty in the case were sentenced to probation.
Mr. Gergely apologized before the court to his former House colleagues, constituents and family.
Before handing down the sentence, Judge Borkowski stated he viewed Mr. Gergely’s betrayal of the public trust as the key factor in his decision.
The judge also stated he was “perplexed” that the extensive investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police and Attorney General’s office had not resulted in any of those charged getting jail time.
“A big splash was made at the time,” with a large number of arrests and gaming machines being seized, he recalled.
Mark Serge, a senior deputy attorney general, noted in an interview following the sentencing that everyone charged in the case was convicted, and the commonwealth “seized a significant sum of money.”
Following the proceeding, Mr. Porter said, “I think the sentence was excessive, given the fact that nobody else in the case received anything more than probation,” including two law enforcement officials and an attorney.
A special election to fill Mr. Gergely’s House seat in the 35th District will be held Jan. 23. In that race, Democrat Austin Davis, an aide to county Executive Rich Fitzgerald, will face Republican Fawn Walker-Montgomery, a McKeesport city councilor. That district includes Clairton, Duquesne, McKeesport, Munhall, West Mifflin and White Oak.