SMETHPORT – Theft charges against two area women were dismissed
Monday by Magisterial District Judge Bill Todd, who ruled the
prosecution did not make the case that the women allegedly took
money from the First National Bank of Port Allegany.

All charges were dismissed against Kerrie Meacham, 30, of East
Vine Street, Port Allegany, while Todd bound to court one count of
tampering with records against Merry Marsiglio, 29, of Rock Run
Road, Turtlepoint.

The ruling came after nearly five additional hours of testimony
in which seven witnesses took the stand – five from the bank and
two from the Port Allegany Police Department. Monday’s hearing was
a continuation of one from last week, in which bank assistant vice
president Cynthia Bosworth testified as to the bank’s
practices.

Bosworth had also presented as evidence lengthy records from the
bank which showed what she referred to as discrepancies in the cash
drawers of Marsiglio and Meacham. After testimony Monday, all of
those records were thrown out.

Meacham’s and Margislio’s attorneys, James Miller and Stephanie
Vettenburg-Shaffer, respectively, had both suggested that bundles
of transactions their clients had processed came up missing, which
is what made their cash drawers short, according to court
proceedings.

The day began with Assistant District Attorney Christa Schott
calling bank compliance officer Lisa Hobbs to describe the audit
process where the discrepancies were uncovered.

Lillibridge Plaza branch manager Andrea Falk then testified
about bank practices and how transactions are taken to the main
branch in a locked bag to be recorded through the bank’s proof
system. Two tellers also testified as to the practices done at the
branch and the main bank.

Bank President Keith Fortner testified, explaining he, Bosworth
and Hobbs spoke to Marsiglio when a discrepancy with her drawer
came to light in August of 2006.

“Merry said she had four cash tickets with accompanying work
that did not appear on the reports,” Fortner said, explaining
Marsiglio said $19,200 in transactions she processed were missing.
“She thought it would show up.”

He said the bank officers searched the records and came up with
no cash tickets or traces of the amounts in question. They called
Marsiglio in again to speak to her.

“She told me she had gone back and destroyed them and fudged the
records from that day forward,” Fortner said.

Schott asked what Marsiglio had destroyed. Fortner said it was
carbon copies of the original work with the amounts in question on
them.

“At this point, I dismissed her as an employee,” he said.

He also spoke to Meacham to ask if she had noticed Marsiglio
having trouble, to which she said she had not. Fortner then asked
bank officials to audit Meacham’s drawer, at which point a
discrepancy of about $15,900 was found.

“I told Ms. Meacham her cash drawer was short,” Fortner said.
“Her reply was she had the same problem as Merry.”

Chief Donald Carley of the Port Allegany Police also testified,
saying he had interviewed Marsiglio.

“She believed it was paperwork that was missing and not money,”
Carley said. “She had also stated she had changed her (bank) sheets
to make sure her sheets would close out every day.”

Carley said Marsiglio was afraid of losing her job, and
therefore did not go to the bank officials when the discrepancy
came to her attention.

David Distrola, a patrolman with the Port Allegany Police,
testified that he filed charges based on the information given to
him by Carley.

“I was advised to file the charges because of the chief’s
retirement,” Distrola said.

After the testimony, Miller began his lengthy objections. First
addressing the records of cash statements Bosworth had assembled,
he said that Bosworth would have to assume one number was correct
and assume that Marsiglio’s and Meacham’s were wrong.

“All the cash sheets are not relevant and probative of the
issue,” he said. “Is it probative of whether or not these two
ladies committed a crime? These witnesses only testified about
general procedure.”

Shaffer agreed, saying the burden of proof was on the
prosecution to have them included as evidence.

“I have to agree with defense counsel on this,” Todd said. “The
records are stricken.”

Next, Miller addressed the charges of criminal conspiracy
against the women, saying no evidence was presented to back up the
charges.

“The Commonwealth does not dispute that,” Schott said. The
conspiracy charges were withdrawn against both women.

Addressing tampering with evidence next, both Miller and Shaffer
brought up that the bank offered no evidence of any records prior
to 2004, although the women were charged with crimes prior to
that.

“The records were kept in a back room accessible by anybody
including the cleaning lady,” Miller said, explaining there was no
evidence presented to show that the defendants had tampered with
anything.

Addressing the theft charges, Miller said, “There was no showing
that there was actually money taken from the bank.”

“These are very serious charges,” Shaffer said. “What you have
here is shoddy paperwork. You have multiple hands with access to
the money and the paperwork. There’s no testimony that any money
has been stolen.”

In the end, Todd agreed with defense counsel on all counts
except for the one tampering charge. It was bound over against
Marsiglio, alleging she had tampered with records between Jan. 20
and Aug. 23, 2006.