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MEDIA COURT — A former Delaware County Park Police officer was sentenced Thursday to three years of probation for fraudulently paying himself approximately $35,500 in unearned overtime.
Lt. Christopher Cahall, 43, of Springfield Township, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of theft by deception, a second-degree felony, for altering numbers when he was in charge of entering the department’s 2022 payroll. and 2023.
Cahall was arrested after Chief John Diehl of the Delaware County Park Police contacted County Detectives Edward Rosen and Robert Lythgoe of the Special Investigations Unit on August 2, 2023, regarding a possible robbery. , according to a news release from District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.
Diehl reported that Cahall was placed in charge of entering park police payroll in January 2022. In July 2023, assignments were changed and Cahall was removed from payroll duties.
During that transition, a park police captain recalled that Cahall had been out for two days, but never reported any sick leave. The discrepancy prompted an internal audit and it was determined that Cahall had been paid “a large amount” of overtime.
Rosen and Lythgoe examined pay period sheets, time sheets, payroll system printouts and shift records, as well as pay stubs provided by the comptroller’s office.
The investigation revealed that there were many cases in which Cahall was paid overtime for extra shifts and holidays he had not worked.
“Every robbery case involves some type of breach of trust,” Deputy District Attorney Doug Rhoads told Magistrate Court Judge Mary Alice Brennan on Thursday. “What makes this case particularly reprehensible is that this defendant was in a position of special trust. That is, he was a public servant, a law enforcement agent. Of course, that makes the theft in this case even more concerning.”
Rhoads said this was not a “one-off” theft, but rather accumulated over the course of 45 different cases in which Cahall had entered incorrect information into the payroll system.
The restitution, previously set at $36,164 but now reduced to $35,556, would be paid immediately using funds Cahall had contributed to his own pension over the years, Rhoads said.
He emphasized that only the money Cahall had contributed and no county matching funds would go toward that sum.
Rhoads noted that Cahall has no criminal record and acknowledged the robberies when confronted by investigators and cooperated with police, but he still asked for a standard sentence of three to 12 months.
Defense attorney Michael Dugan echoed Cahall’s cooperation in requesting a mitigated sentence of two years of probation. He also noted that the statement likely would have come sooner, but was delayed while he and Rhoads figured out how the pension fund payment would be made.
Dugan noted that the loss of that pension is just part of the collateral damage Cahall has already suffered, which also includes the loss of her career while trying to raise three young children and rebuild her life at age 43.
“What we have here is an individual who made a serious mistake, a series of serious mistakes,” Dugan said. “For these mistakes, he has taken full and total responsibility.”
Cahall also apologized to the court, park police and Diehl. He said his actions have impacted everyone in his family, from his parents who have not been able to enjoy their retirement, to putting his marriage to the test, and especially his children, to whom he now has to deny things that they do not understand. What’s going on.
Cahall said he was always “the good guy” who tried to do the right thing, passing on authorities while his friends did other things that he did not elaborate on. He said that he is now trying to start a painting business to make ends meet and that he has learned his lesson.
“You will never see me in this courtroom again,” Cahall said. “I learned from this mistake, it will never happen again.”
Brennan said Cahall can ask the court to end probation after two years if he has no violations. He will also have to provide a DNA sample to state police.
