Revelation of long-running auto-parts thefts has Bensalem school officials reeling

With Wednesday's arrest of 14 people linked to the apparent theft of $1 million worth of auto parts from the Bensalem Township School District over a decade, law enforcement and school officials are trying to understand how the situation went unchecked for so long.

In particular, officials wonder how Jack Myers, the former business manager, who oversaw the district's $100 million annual budget, failed to recognize any financial malfeasance.

Myers was charged with theft and misappropriation of government property. He allegedly gave the head mechanic, Frederick Lange, access to titles of district vehicles. Myers kept the titles in a locked vault, police records say.

Lange then gave the vehicles to a local junkyard free in return for access to parts from the yard, an arrangement Myers knew about, records say.

Myers' lawyer, Thomas Kenny, said he and his client "categorically deny it happened that way." Myers could not be reached for comment.

He was not charged in several other schemes that allegedly occurred in the district: allowing two employees to collect pay slips while failing to show up for work; ordering thousands of bus tires and batteries and then selling them; and buying brake pads, wiper blades, and other accessories through the district for members of a car-collector club.

Kenny contended that the $1 million in question represented a minuscule slice of the money Myers oversaw during his years as business manager, and that any allegation that he was aware of the crimes taking place was false.

"He's not a crook," Kenny said. "He's not even a bad manager."

Myers was known as extremely frugal. David Baugh, the district superintendent, said principals and teachers often had a difficult time securing Myers' approval to buy pencils for state exams.

He was also a well-known figure in education circles. He was the budget director of the Philadelphia School District until 1999, when he moved to the Bensalem district. And he was an outspoken critic of the way the state paid charter schools, contending that they were overfunded and cost districts thousands of excess dollars per pupil.

Myers, while still a Bensalem district employee, is retiring, Baugh said. He is no longer business manager.

Baugh, who became superintendent in 2011, said that Myers had been afforded a great deal of trust by past superintendents and the school board. He added that processes designed to check the business manager - such as reviews of written checks or budgets - had "atrophied" over time, as those he reported to trusted him to do his job.

Ralph Douglass, president of the Bensalem school board, said that the board did not regularly see lists or copies of checks for district expenditures, a process that has changed since Myers stepped aside as business manager last year.

Douglass also said that the board-meeting structure is being expanded to allow committee members more time to review agenda items, and that the board has reached out to external consultants to review business procedures.

While audits took place during the years of the alleged crimes, the theft "was happening below the threshold of an audit," Baugh said.

Reached by telephone, the district's former auditing firm, Major & Mastro, declined to comment.

Baugh said that the district would seek a new auditing firm and request deeper reviews of the district's finances. He also said procedures to check purchases and budget items were being more vigorously enforced.

"A dime doesn't move in this district without the board having the opportunity to review it," he said. "That's a huge change."