A veteran volunteer firefighter in Castle Shannon was charged Thursday with embezzling nearly $140,000 from the department’s death benefit fund, but the state auditor general says even more money is unaccounted for. The Allegheny County District Attorney took over the investigation after the state auditor general uncovered tens of thousands of dollars in unaccounted for money.
Castle Shannon volunteer firefighters learned they were swindled when they confronted 76-year-old John Montgomery last month. They say Montgomery told them, “Yeah, I stole it.”
“What’s sad is that this was a member of the fire department who had worked with his fellow firefighters for over 40 years and had achieved a position of trust,” attorney John Zagari said.