Parkside borough council president embezzled $2.5K to buy gas for his personal car, DA says

Parkside Borough Council President Dominic Capobianco used a borough-issued gas card to fill up his personal vehicle, stealing $2,500 from the tiny Delaware County town over the course of two years, prosecutors said Tuesday .

Capobianco, 63, faces charges of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property. He turned himself in to police early Tuesday and was released on $50,000 unsecured bail.

He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In announcing the charges Tuesday , Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said the case proves “no one is above the law.”

“When elected officials misuse public funds, they are not just breaking the law, they are betraying the communities they swore to serve,’ Rouse said. ”Let me be clear: If you engage in illegal conduct, regardless of your title or position, you will be investigated, you will be charged, and you will be held responsible."

Parkside officials, in a statement, said they are fully cooperating with the investigation.

“The conduct described in the criminal complaint is deeply concerning, as it involves the alleged misuse of taxpayer funds and is inconsistent with the standards of integrity and public trust expected of those who serve our community,” the statement said.

The investigation began when Parkside Borough Police Chief Patrick McKeown and Borough Solicitor John Jay Wills contacted Rouse’s office, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Capobianco’s arrest.

Capobianco had been given a borough-issued gas card to use while working as the borough’s code enforcement officer, a position he held from 2018 until January, when he was named council president during a reorganization meeting.

The card was intended to be used to fill up the 2018 Ford Explorer Capobianco drove while working as a code enforcement officer. However, McKeown and Wills, during a review of the card’s activity, found that Capobianco had used it to purchase premium gas, which the Explorer doesn’t take.

Surveillance footage from a Wawa in Brookhaven showed that Capobianco was using the card to buy gas for his own Nissan Frontier pickup truck, as well as a Chevrolet Trax owned by his wife, the affidavit said. On some occasions, the document said, he used the card to fill up a 5-gallon gas can.

The review found that Capobianco used the card to purchase 648 gallons of gas for his personal use between April 2024 and March 15, according to the affidavit.

The theft allegations are not the first time Capobianco has come under investigation for his business dealings with Parkside.

In 2024, the State Ethics Commission found that Capobianco violated the state ethics act for elected officials when he submitted an invoice for $7,941.99 for cleaning and disinfectant work he said he completed at the borough’s offices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The commission said there was no evidence Capobianco purchased the materials for which he billed the borough and also found that he improperly seconded the motion approving the invoice as a member of borough council, rather than abstaining from the vote.

Capobianco had said at public meetings that had previously performed the cleaning free of charge, as a service to the borough, according to the commission. But in June 2021, when he learned that the borough would be receiving federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, he began submitting invoices to be paid.

He was ordered to reimburse the borough $4,000.