Municipal Employee Embezzled Taxpayer Funds: Delco DA

Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland said Tuesday that an employee of a Delaware County municipality was embezzling township funds.

Jessica L. McCusker, 36, of Upper Darby, has been charged with six counts each of felony theft by unlawful taking, felony theft by deception, felony receiving stolen property, and felony theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, court records show.

McCusker was arrested and arraigned May 22 and released on $250,000 bail, according to court documents.

McCusker has been an employee in the township's tax office for 15 years, according to the DA's office.

An investigation was launched on May 22, 2017 – one year prior to McCusker's arrest and charges – after an Upper Darby official found cash receipts for payments of residents’ taxes in McCusker's door, the DA's office said.

Then a digital check of tax payment deposits showed they were not put into the township's account, the DA's office alleges.

She then was unable to explain why the receipts were in her desk and why they were not posted to the township accounts, according to the DA's office.

Officials suspended her in June 2017 then county investigators interviewed her days later, the DA's office said.

During the interview McCusker admitted to taking the money and using it to move with her children from her marital residence to an apartment, to rent the apartment, pay tuition, pay credit card debt, and to buy drugs, according to the DA's office.

She allegedly took more than $216,700 between 2012 and 2017, the DA's office said.

The DA's office broke down the alleged embezzlement totals by year. They are:

• 2012: $2,288.31
• 2013: $24,183.06
• 2014: $34,644.18
• 2015: $43.922.94
• 2016: $41,765.90
• 2017: $69,935.76

"The defendant used her position of trust in Upper Darby to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from Upper Darby taxpayers. Then, to add insult to injury, she used the stolen money to buy drugs and pay credit card bills," Copeland said. "Our Economic Crime Unit is dedicated to guarding against fraud and thoroughly investigating all matters of theft. I want to commend Detective Michele Deery and analyst Edward Lowitz for their exemplary work on this case and also to commend Upper Darby Mayor Tom Micozzie who immediately notified CID to begin an independent investigation."

She is slated to appear for a preliminary hearing on June 11.

Image via Delaware County District Attorney's Office