Secretary accused of theft from borough pleads guilty, gets five years probation
POTTSVILLE – The former Shenandoah borough secretary accused of swiping over $23,000 in sewer and trash payments has pleaded guilty and will not face jail time.
Alyssa Lynn Boris, 30, of 206 West Lloyd Street, was charged by State Police last May for the theft.
Boris appeared in Schuylkill County Court Friday for a status conference before Judge James Goodman, where she entered a guilty plea to a single felony charge of theft by unlawful taking — movable property. Additional felony charges of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and receiving stolen property were dropped.
She was sentenced the same day to five years supervised probation, with full restitution to be paid to the borough within 30 days.
In a criminal complaint filed last May, troopers said they were notified by the borough’s then-solicitor, James Amato, about a possible theft in early 2022.
Troopers interviewed Amato, Borough Manager Tony Sajone, and Secretary Cassondra Krise on March 31, 2022, and were told that Boris was responsible for making deposits in the sewer and trash funds at First National Bank in Shenandoah. Those deposits included cash, checks, and money orders, and there was no set timeframe to make deposits, but they were generally made daily.
According to the complaint, Krise noticed discrepancies in the borough’s financial reporting system regarding the sewer and trash funds on Feb. 11. Deposits were not being completed on time, she said, and she notified Sajone.
Sajone, troopers said, checked with the bank on March 3, who said Boris had not made a deposit “in several days.
On March 31, troopers said Boris’s boyfriend dropped off a bank bag at borough hall which contained cash and checks totaling $10,328 inmixed funds that should have been deposited into the trash and sewer accounts.
Boris voluntarily visited the State Police barracks on April 4 and was interviewed, telling troopers that deposits are not made every day, and that she had taken work home on some occasions. In January of 2022, she said she misplaced a deposit bag containing around 8 deposits.
Troopers said she told them that she was worried about her son’s health and that, around the end of January, “she wanted to have everything paid off.” She worked multiple jobs and was trying to pay the money back, which she used for bills.
When cash would come in, troopers said, she would put certain deposits together but place the money aside.
From December of 2021 until the interview, she estimated that 15 $1,000 deposits were made into her account, troopers said.
In May of 2022, troopers executed a search warrant for her bank account documents from May 2021 to May 2022, which were received on June 6. Multiple ATM deposits matched what she had said, troopers said.
An accountant, Samuel Deegan, was requested to assist in reviewing the sewer and trash records and a report of the findings indicated that the total cash missing was $23,685.32 — $15,566.57 from the sewer account and $8,118.75 from the trash account.
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