Ex-Phoenixville schools finance chief gets 14 months in prison for embezzling $94,000

PHILADELPHIA — The previous finance director who pleaded responsible to embezzling cash from the Phoenixville Space College District was sentenced in federal court docket to 1 yr and two months in jail.

Moreover, in accordance with info offered by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, Christopher Gehris, 47, will likely be required to pay again the greater than $94,000 he stole. Gehris will even be topic to 3 years of probation, or “supervised launch,” after he serves his jail time period.

Gehris, a resident of Phoenixville, pleaded responsible in early February and the sentence was imposed by United States District Court docket Choose Mitchell S. Goldberg.

In response to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer, protection legal professional Stephen I. Baer requested the choose for probation, however Goldberg refused.

Within the wake of the sentence announcement, the college district posted a press release on its web site which learn: “The Phoenixville Space College District is happy that the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Gehris has concluded. Regardless of the challenges of COVID-19, the case was totally investigated. At present’s ruling permits all events to start shifting ahead. Mr. Gehris’s actions negatively impacted, the scholars, dad and mom, group and district.”

The assertion additional famous, “the district thanks the Phoenixville Police Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Lawyer and the Federal Courts for his or her work and considerate deliberations. As at all times, our ideas exit to Mr. Gehris’s household.”

In response to the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, “Gehris cashed checks made payable to himself and to ‘money,’ obtained checks and direct deposits into his private checking account for ‘start-up cash’ for pupil actions, stole money from college packages, and obtained reward playing cards for private expenditures – all in furtherance of his embezzlement scheme from 2013 to 2019.”

The Inquirer article gave the next instance: “after $10,849 in checks and money was collected from seventh-grade college students happening a category journey, Gehris modified the information of the totals collected to quick the fund practically $800 that he deposited into his account.”

Gehris additionally admitted that he hid his thefts by altering receipts and falsifying studies submitted to the college board.

Among the cash was stolen from a program funded with federal funds, which is why the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Jap District dealt with the prosecution. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Phoenixville Police Division and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Lawyer Terri A. Marinari.

“The defendant stole practically $100,000 from a public college district, cash, a few of which was particularly allotted for pupil actions meant to reinforce their academic expertise,” stated U.S. Lawyer Jennifer Arbittier Williams. “Criminals that embezzle public cash from faculties are ripping off tons of of scholars whereas additionally ripping off all taxpayers who fund them.”

Gehris’ actions additionally ended up in a 2021 report from the state Auditor Basic’s workplace that highlighted a number of the irregularities and the district’s failure to catch them till 2019.

The “discrepancies” within the books have been first introduced in September 2019, two weeks after Gehris resigned his submit on the district within the wake of an inside audit wherein a number of the discrepancies first appeared.

By the point the auditor common’s report was launched, it included responses from the district indicating the management deficiencies had already been addressed. For months, members of the general public repeatedly requested concerning the progress of the investigation and have been advised by the board and administration there was nothing they might say till the investigation was accomplished by regulation enforcement.

Gehris was first employed in 2006 employed as a controller for the district’s enterprise workplace and later promoted to enterprise supervisor. In 2018, he was appointed to function the director of finance.