Former Rescue Squad Chief Charged With Stealing $157,K From the Squad



Crime Watch

By Alex Lloyd Gross

Scott Mel Bahner was a highly trained first responder He took classes in life saving techniques and rose to the position of the Chief of the Bucks County Rescue Squad.  That ambulance company, located in Bristol Township  is one of the busiest in Bucks County.  Today,  May 3, 2019 he was arrested for identity theft, unlawful use of a computer and related charges. Police allege that he used his position as chief of the department to write checks he was not authorized to write. Police said he was paid $79,000 per year. Authorities also say checks written by Bahner were used to boost his pay for work done at the township, by paying himself for work that was already paid  for doing as a community officer, police said.

Suspicious checks came to the attention of investigators looking into the squads finances recently

Part of the investigation found Bahner allegedly stole more than $87,000 between July 2009 and January 2018 by issuing 70 fraudulent checks to himself and his wife. Several of the checks variously bore the forged signatures of three ranking members of the rescue squad, according to Bucks DA’s office.

A majority of the checks were issued with no legitimate purpose, while 31 purported to be reimbursements for Bahner’s time and expenses with the Bucks County Major Incident Response Team – time for which he told Bristol Township in signed paperwork that he received no other compensation. He is alleged to have written checks totaling $13,000 to pay towards family members credit cards, police said. He also used this money to pay for car repairs on family vehicles, firearms and fuel, court records show.

Additionally Bahner donated ill gotten funds  to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and aSubstance Abuse Treatment facility in Florida.

Bahner used his access to the squad’s accounting software to conceal the nature of these payments. Separate from the BCRS thefts, Bahner also stole $29,618.33 from Bristol Township while working as a Community Service Officer for the Bristol Township Police Department. The part-time position involved on-site work at the township municipal complex, as well as the occasional running of local errands for the police department, a press release from the Bucks County DA’s Office says.

Bahner began working in the position in October 2014. In August 2017, township police command staff investigated apparent discrepancies in Bahner’s time records and found he had submitted payment records for 1,777.66 hours between March 7, 2016 and September 21, 2017, when he was neither on site nor performing his duties as CSO. Bahner reimbursed the township Nov. 27, 2017 via check. The criminal case was investigated by Bucks County Detectives and has been assigned for prosecution to Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber.

The Bucks County rescue Squad provides service to Bristol Township and l Bristol Borough, as well as  Middletown and Bensalem Townships.

 

 


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2 thoughts on “Former Rescue Squad Chief Charged With Stealing $157,K From the Squad

  1. SERPICO NEWS RIGHT IN YOUR FACE.

    Breaking News:

    PHILLY NARCOTICS FIELD UNIT OFFICER LOCKS SUSPECTED UP THEN LATER SEEN DRIVING THE SUSPECTS PORSCHE AROUND TOWN EVEN LETTING HIS WIFE DRIVE THE SUSPECTS VEHICLE TO THE STORE.

    Now this story takes the cake or should l say the suspects Porsche.

    Yes folks narcotics field officer Jimmy Coolen took a suspects Porsche after the suspects was arrested on drug charges. and instead of putting the vehicle on a property receipt as per departmental policy and have the vehicle towed to the Police impound.

    Unfortunately that was not the case here narcotics officer Jimmy Coolen had other plan with his Sgt. Corsin was very much aware of and so was members of the unit.

    I must say it would be kind of hard not to notice your co-work pulling up at work in a Porsche and leaving each day driving a Porsche.

    One cop even stated that he even seen officers Jimmy Coolen wife driving the vehicle around in his neighborhood.

    WoW you can’t make this stuff up (3) more cops one from the 15th contacted Serpico News investigative reporter /PI Andre Boyer and stated this is nothing new this kind of stuff happens on a regular basis in that unit.

    He even told Serpico News about another incident that occurred just like this one but the cop was a supervisor and actually stole the suspects property right out of his house in front of other narcotics officers.

    He stated this is something that occurs all the time if they see something in your house and they want it’s there’s everything from expensive purses, clothing, cell phones, Laptop and gold chains.

    He also stated this supervisor in the narcotics field unit literally stole a suspects flat screen 50 inch TV right off the wall inside of the suspects house saying that shit is mine.

    As other narcotics officers watched and laughed out as the supervisor took the TV and place it in the police unit.

    And took it home however later and investigation was filed after the suspect got out of jail and saw that his Flat screen TV was gone and was not listed on the property receipt as being seized as evidence.

    From sources in ISB that know about this incident stated the Top Brass told the supervisor to go home and bring the Flat screen TV back to narcotics headquarters and place it on property receipt immediately if you want to keep your job and don’t go to jail.

    I guess no one noticed the property receipts being out of sequence not by one or two but by at least 30 numbers or more it was one hell of a gap.

    FOP President John McNesby had this supervisors back cover and put the deal in place. From my sources within internal affairs Sergeant Joanne Garvey is the go to person at IAB when Sergeant Alford Corsin needs things to disappear go away and be made unfound.

    You don’t have to take my word for it just pull the record and cases and see for yourself she’s been cleaning house for this guy for a very long time.

    Now you have narcotics field officer Jimmy Coolen stealing the suspects vehicle after a drug bust which is evidence or should l say never making it into evidence.

    Driving it around and raking up miles since when is it okay to take evidence. Well this just proves how out of control this unit is.

    Captain Ray Evers and Inspector Anthony Boyle was responsible for these cops instead of having them leading their unit to do the right thing.

    Thrush them into a darkness of do as l say not as l do of corruption and Mayham Captain Ray Evers was found guilty of ordering his cops to to lie on property receipts and to throw drugs away.
    My sources stated that officer Jimmy Coolen got word that Serpico News was investigating the incident of him taking the suspects Porsche and place it on a property receipt two days ago.

    Let’s see if the arrested reporter paperwork even mentions the proper receipt for the vehicle which it should but I doubt he will.

    This is more then enough to throw the alleged drug case right out of court.

    Serpico News will continue to fight for the good cops and be your voice in the darkness to expose the corruption and wrongdoing.

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