An accountant who did work for the Pittsburgh Stadium Authority and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center stole about $193,000 in public money over the past four years, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Jeffrey Harmon, 47, of Pecan Drive in Penn Hills, was charged Thursday with seven theft counts and appeared before District Justice Cathleen Cawood Bubash on the North Side.
Harmon is accused of taking the money while he worked for the Stadium Authority and while he was an employee of SMG, the Philadelphia-based company that manages the convention center and Mellon Arena, according to the affidavit filed in court.
Harmon repaid $150,854, and SMG covered the balance, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said. Repayment constitutes an admission of guilt by Harmon, Zappala said.
Zappala said Harmon faces only a short term in jail or probation on the felony charges because he has made restitution and does not have a criminal history.
Harmon did not speak during his preliminary arraignment and declined to comment on the charges. He was released without bail and faces arraignment.
"I think he did screw up. Period," said James Ecker, Harmon's attorney.
Mary K. Conturo, who heads the Stadium Authority, said she has taken steps to prevent future thefts such as requiring all checks to have two signatures, installing new security at the convention center vault that requires two people to open it and shifting the Stadium Authority's financial oversight to the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority. Conturo also heads the SEA, which operates the Stadium Authority.
The Stadium Authority owned Three Rivers Stadium, which was imploded in 2001, and now owns the land between PNC Park and Heinz Field. The authority has Three Rivers debts of $42 million and assets of $8.7 million, according to its 2003 audit.
Most of the authority's $6.75 million in revenue last year came from the county Regional Asset District's 1 percent sales tax.
Mark Schneider, who chairs the authority and SEA boards, said the thefts occurred because "we didn't have enough controls in place. ... Do I think we all should have caught it earlier⢠Yeah. "
A spokesman for SMG declined to comment.
In the most brazen act he is charged with, Harmon last summer had a courier deliver $20,000 in cash to him from an account for events at Three Rivers Stadium. Another time, he received $10,000 in cash from a courier, according to the affidavit.
Harmon had access to a vault at the convention center and is charged with taking more than $30,000 in cash that included the proceeds from coat checking and parking fees, as well as change intended for the box office, the affidavit states.
Harmon also wrote checks to himself totaling nearly $70,000, each for less than $2,500 and requiring just his signature, according to the affidavit. He paid himself an unauthorized $15,000 fee and paid the New York Life Insurance Co. $18,000 for policies he held.
Harmon took more than $8,000 in royalty checks intended for the Stadium Authority from a company selling models of Three Rivers Stadium, the affidavit states.
The discrepancies were discovered when Harmon took an extended leave from his job from May 10 to June 30 to care for his terminally ill wife. An SEA employee first noticed an unauthorized check made out to Harmon, and then investigators began looking at all the areas where Harmon worked.
Pittsburgh Councilman William Peduto said this week that the city should consider abolishing the Stadium Authority. He also questioned why the authority's annual audits did not uncover the theft earlier.
"I don't know who's to blame," said Peduto, who serves on the Stadium Authority board. "... If somebody wants to be part of a criminal activity, it's hard to keep track of them."
