HARRISBURG – Attorney General Tom Corbett has announced that agents from the Attorney General’s Public Corruption Unit have filed criminal charges against the former director of the Northumberland County Drug & Alcohol Department, who is accused of concealing his outside employment with businesses that had contracts with his department, billing private businesses for work performed on county time and diverting more than $12,000 in cash payments that should have been forwarded to the Northumberland County Treasurer’s Office.
Corbett identified the defendant as Samuel R. Williamson, 60, 289 Main St, Turbotville.
“Government employees are supposed to place the needs of the people above their own self interest,” Corbett said. “Using an official position for personal profit and failing to disclose clear conflicts of interest are inexcusable violations of Pennsylvania’s ethics laws.”
Corbett said that Williamson, while serving as the director of the Northumberland County Drug & Alcohol Department, allegedly prepared and approved multiple county contracts for outside counseling services provided by the West Branch Drug & Alcohol Abuse Commission, while failing to disclose that he had been paid more than $23,000 by that organization. Williamson also allegedly used his county position to authorize contracts for another agency, Northwestern Human Services, while performing private work for that business.
Additionally, Corbett said that Williamson allegedly provided private counseling services for two other non-county agencies – Northwestern Human Services and CONCERN Counseling – submitting bills for hundreds of hours of private work that was allegedly performed while Williamson was supposed to be performing county duties. Time cards submitted to the private agencies and the county in 2005, 2006 and 2007 indicate that Williamson allegedly received payment for more than 400 hours of personal work that was performed during times when he was also collecting wages from Northumberland County.
According to the criminal complaint, Williamson is also accused of misdirecting several thousand dollars in cash payments that were made to the county drug and alcohol office.
Corbett said the missing cash included $12,625 in assessment fee payments that were made by various drug and alcohol clients. Instead of forwarding the money to the county treasurer’s office, Williamson allegedly referred to the cash as the office “slush fund.”
According to the criminal charges, approximately $3,300 was used to purchase gift cards for employees, flowers, greeting cards, holiday gifts for children, groceries for clients and various office expenses. The remaining $9,261 in missing funds could not be documented in any way.
Corbett said that irregularities in Williamson’s activities were initially discovered during an audit of his department by the Northumberland County Controller’s Office, prior to Williamson’s retirement in December 2007. The case was subsequently referred to the Attorney General’s Office by Northumberland County District Attorney Anthony J. Rosini.
Williamson surrendered today to agents from the Attorney General’s Office and was preliminarily arraigned before Sunbury Magisterial District Judge Robert J. Bolton. He was released on $10,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing on October 21st, at 1 p.m., before Magisterial District Judge Bolton.
Williamson is charged with one count of conflict of interest, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine and one count of failure to file a correct statement of financial interest, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Additionally, Williamson is charged with one count each of theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, both third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.
Corbett said the case will be prosecuted in Northumberland County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony W. Forray of the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecution Section.
Corbett thanked the Northumberland County District Attorney’s Office and the Pennsylvania Auditor General’s Office for their cooperation and assistance with this investigation.