CLEARFIELD – Two women entered guilty pleas to charges that they bilked DuFast Transit Authority in DuBois out of about $420,000 in state and federal funds.
Thirty-seven-year-old Lauri L. Ferraro, formerly of DuBois and now living in Florida, and 48-year-old Elaine Kost of DuBois were set to begin a two-week trial before Clearfield County Judge Paul E. Cherry on Monday, but at about 9:30 a.m., Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. said the women had entered what is called an open plea in the cases, the same effect that would have been obtained had the women went through with their scheduled jury trial.
The women were charged with creating false board of directors’ minutes for DuFast in which they gave themselves bonuses and made unauthorized purchases for themselves between May 2000 and December 2004.
Ferraro received approximately $291,000 in money and purchases, including a Chevrolet Tahoe that she used as her own and had heating oil delivered to her home. Kost is accused of receiving about $128,000.
“They’re going to have to pay restitution. … We will recover that money, absolutely,” Shaw said. “We will recover every penny of that restitution.”
The women will be sentenced within the next 60 days, and their exact sentences will be left to the judge. Shaw could say, however, that a third-degree felony, several of which are faced by each of the women, carry a sentence of up to seven years in jail.
Shaw said DuFast is a service meant to provide free or low-cost transportation to residents in the DuBois and Sandy Township areas. It even offers free rides to senior citizens.
“It’s a government-provided transportation service to enable seniors to get to the hospital, to the mall, to their doctors and that kind of stuff. And this board of directors relied on these (women) to … manage and operate that place and they simply took advantage of that trust that these seniors placed in them,” Shaw said.
Shaw added that it was a team effort that lead to Monday’s plea, noting the work by DuFast Auditor Gregory Yutzey of Mauthe, Yutzey & Gabler and Forensic Accountant Timothy Fannin of Catalano, Case, Catalano & Fannin along with that of the state police and the Special Agent Bob Brautigam of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General.
Kost and Ferraro had faced hundreds of charges, but some of those will merge for sentencing purposes.
Both women are free on bail until the time of sentencing.
Shaw said he and his staff have spent many hours in preparation for the trial.
