Ex-school superintendent and ex-board president charged in alleged kickback scheme

Keith Crego, the former president of the school board in Delaware County's Penn-Delco School district, and Leslye Abrutyn, the district's former superintendent, face criminal charges in connection with an alleged scheme to secretly invest money in a preschool program operated at district schools, with Crego taking tens of thousands of dollars in payments for his role in the matter.

Crego allegedly secretly set up a company named Quick Start Pre-Schools LLC to provide preschool programs for the district, used his influence to get the company a contract with the district and then demanded and got at least $39,000 from the woman running the program.

Abrutyn allegedly knew about the scheme and invested $10,0000 in the company, giving Crego the money in cash in the parking lot of a district elementary school. The indictment alleges that Abrutyn was to receive a share of the company's profits.

Crego is charged with violating ethics and public financial disclosure laws. Abrutyn is charged with making false statements on financial disclosure forms.

Crego also is charged with possession with intent to sell steroids and Ecstasy that police said were found in a safe deposit box belonging to him.

And he is charged with theft by deception for allegedly getting a new school district employee to pay him $1,000 to put into an annuity program that did not exist.

While the operators of the Quick Start program were not changed with any offenses, the company itself was charged with theft for accepting $9,500 in payments from the nonprofit Penn-Delco Educational and Cultural Foundation for tutoring services that were never carried out. Crego was also charged with theft in connection with the matter; the money was used to pay him for his role in Quick Start. The money was returned by Quick Start to the foundation earlier this month.

Both Crego and Abrutyn were arrested at their homes this morning. Crego remains in jail with bail set at 10 percent of $100,000; Abrytyn's bail was $25,000 unsecured. Crego's and Abrutyn's lawyers did not return phone call this afternoon asking for comment.

Announcing the charges today, Delaware County District Attorney Michael Green said: "The people arrested today are in essence charged with violating the trust reposed in them not only by the parents of school aged children but by every taxpayer in the Penn-Delco School District."

Green said that the investigation of matters related to Quick Start is over and no further criminal wrongdoing had been found on the part of school board members or the educational and cultural foundation.

Dave Seitz, the current president of the Penn-Delco school board, said that though he had known about the investigation, "I was pretty shocked at the charges, not knowing how extensive this thing got - I'm shocked and distraught that this happened."

He added that with regard to Crego, "I feel extremely disappointed; the district has been betrayed."

And he said that "We always felt that no one else [besides Crego and Abrutyn] was going to be involved in this - I hope that from now on the residents can feel comfortable that we have been telling the truth and we can move on."