{"id":7209,"date":"2013-08-22T14:51:04","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T18:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=7209"},"modified":"2013-08-22T14:51:04","modified_gmt":"2013-08-22T18:51:04","slug":"d-a-simple-case-of-good-cop-gone-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=7209","title":{"rendered":"D.A.: ‘Simple case of good cop gone bad’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Coatesville detective arraigned on forgery, theft charges<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Accompanied<\/a>

Accompanied by his attorney, Daniel R. Bush (right), Gerald D. Pawling, a former Coatesville detective, arrives at Caln district court for his arraignment on theft charges.<\/p><\/div>\n

With five relatives seated behind him, a former Coatesville Police detective was arraigned on eight counts of forgery and 51 counts of theft-by-unlawful-taking in Caln district court Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Gerald D. Pawling, 42, who worked in the Coatesville Police Department for nearly 17 years before taking early retirement in May 2012, kept his hands clenched and head down during most of the brief proceeding.<\/p>\n

Because of the seriousness of the charges, Magisterial District Judge Jeffrey Valocchi set bail at $200,000 unsecured, with the condition that Pawling refrain from involvement in the financial matters of any nonprofit, even \u201ca hotdog stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pawling\u2019s attorney, Daniel R. Bush, said none of the allegations should minimize the years of community service Pawling performed. \u201cIt\u2019s a very difficult day,\u201d said Bush. \u201cHe\u2019s always been used to being on the other side \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Coatesville<\/a>

Coatesville Police Chief Jack Laufer (left) joins Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan at a news conference announcing the arrest of Gerald D. Pawling, a former city detective.<\/p><\/div>\n

Shortly after the arraignment, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan held a news conference to announce Pawling\u2019s arrest. Hogan was accompanied by Coatesville Police Chief Jack Laufer, Chief County Detective James Vito, and Assistant District Attorney Carlos Barraza, assigned as prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a simple case of a good cop gone bad,\u201d said Hogan. “He was respected, he was admired, he was trusted; unfortunately he used those qualities as a smokescreen to steal from his fellow police officers.”<\/p>\n

Chester County Detectives executed two search warrants at Pawling\u2019s Caln Township residence on July 24 and 25. According to the search warrants, Pawling became the focus of an investigation on April 30 after Coatesville Det. Kevin Campbell took over the presidency of the Coatesville Police Benevolent Association (CPBA), a post previously held by Pawling.<\/p>\n

Campbell found \u201ca pattern of suspicious payments\u201d when he reviewed the books \u2013 numerous unauthorized checks to Pawling and his wife, Stacey Pawling, the warrants said. Hogan said no evidence appeared to suggest that Stacy Pawling was aware of the scheme to defraud the police union, a \u201cblue on blue\u201d crime that allegedly occurred because Pawling was \u201cso trusted that he was selected\u201d to handle the association\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knew him, and everyone liked him,\u201d said Hogan of Pawling. \u201cWhat they didn\u2019t know is \u2026 he was living beyond his means and he was running out of money.\u201d As a result, Hogan said Pawling \u201cwould reach out and write himself a check.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hogan<\/a>

Hogan displays the signature (top) of Coatesville Police Lt. James Audette. Below it is an alleged forgery by Pawling in which the name is misspelled.<\/p><\/div>\n

Hogan said at least one instance of alleged forgery was easy to detect: Pawling misspelled the name of a former colleague, Lt. James Audette, on the check.<\/p>\n

Pawling, the father of five children, lived in a house fitted with entertainment amenities, including a pool, a hot tub, a giant flat-screen TV, even a home-theater popcorn station in a finished basement, Hogan said. He said the former youth coach is accused of stealing $46,509 from CPBA.<\/p>\n

Calling the thefts \u201ca crime of opportunity,\u201d Hogan said that when County Detectives Thomas J. Goggin and Martin Carbonell reviewed the CPBA financial records, they saw a pattern in the alleged thefts during a three- to four-year period from 2009 to 2012. They occurred when Pawling was low on cash, Hogan said.<\/p>\n

He said most of the allegations in the search warrant regarding thefts from the Police Athletic League had largely been explained and \u201ctaken off the table.\u201d But the investigation is continuing, he said.<\/p>\n

Hogan praised the Coatesville Police Department and its chief for their courage in not sweeping the crime \u201cunder the rug.\u201d Describing the morale in the department, Laufer said, \u201cCertainly, it\u2019s disappointing, but it is not disheartening.\u201d He said it was unusual that the alleged victims were fellow police officers, which \u201cmakes it personal,\u201d but he said such conduct would not be tolerated, no matter who is accused.<\/p>\n

According the sentencing guidelines, the standard penalty for forgery is probation to one month in prison. Pawling also faces four counts of felony theft-by-unlawful-taking, which carries a standard range of probation to nine months, and 47 counts of misdemeanor theft-by-unlawful-taking, which is probation to one month in jail. Prosecutors declined comment on whether they would seek a prison term.<\/p>\n

According to the criminal complaint, Pawling was interviewed by detectives on Aug. 6 and admitted that he stole money from the CPBA and forged signatures of fellow officers in the process.<\/p>\n

Hogan said Pawling\u2019s arrest constituted \u201ca sad day\u201d for police and prosecutors. \u201cA respected member of law enforcement has crossed the line,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Coatesville detective arraigned on forgery, theft charges By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times With five relatives seated behind him, a former Coatesville Police detective was arraigned on eight counts of forgery and 51 counts of theft-by-unlawful-taking in Caln district court Thursday morning. Gerald D. Pawling, 42, who worked in the Coatesville Police […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2718,476,2717,490,2646,2644,2716],"class_list":["post-7209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-assistant-district-attorney-carlos-barraza","tag-chester-county-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-chief-county-detective-james-vito","tag-coatesville-police","tag-coatesville-police-benevolent-association-cpba","tag-gerald-d-pawling","tag-magisterial-district-judge-jeffrey-valocchi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}