By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN, mrellahan@dailylocal.com
Posted: 12/29/13, 6:24 PM EST |
The Chester County law enforcement community was shaken over the
summer as news surfaced that a former Coatesville police detective, one of the
most respected and admired in the profession, would be charged with siphoning
funds from a charity account.
Even more, it became clear that the charity involved was the
Coatesville Police Benevolent Association. In effect, Gerald Pawling was
stealing money from his fellow officers.
In August, Pawling, who had worked some of the most high profile
cases in the city’s recent history, was charged with theft and forgery, accused
of stealing $46,000 from the association when he was its treasurer.
“This is a simple case about a good cop gone bad,” Chester County
District Attorney Tom Hogan proclaimed after his arrest. “Detective Gerald
Pawling was a police officer for the Coatesville Police Department. He was
respected, he was admired, he was trusted. Unfortunately he used those
qualities as a smokescreen to steal from his fellow police officers.”
According to court documents, the investigation began after one of
Pawling’s former colleagues, Coatesville Detective Kevin Campbell, assumed
control of the police union’s finances earlier this year. As Campbell reviewed
the union’s financial records, he discovered a series of discrepancies that
suggested an unfortunate scenario: thefts from the inside.
After Campbell’s discovery, the investigation was brought to the
District Attorney’s Office and the Chester County Detectives. A subsequent
investigation determined that Pawling, a 17-year-veteran, repeatedly used his
position as treasurer of the CPBA to write fraudulent checks made payable to
himself and his wife, Stacey Pawling.
Pawling’s attorney, Daniel Bush of West Chester, said his client
would face the accusations.
“At some point the process is going to play itself out and someone
else will judge whether he did or did not do something wrong,” the veteran
criminal defense attorney said. He emphasized, however, that Pawling’s record
of almost two decades of service to the Coatesville community and its citizens
still stands. “Nothing in these allegations minimizes that past.”
As of December, Pawling’s case was still awaiting trial in Common
Pleas Court.
