Former Rescue Squad Chief Sentenced After Six-Figure Theft

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the sentence as three months to a year. The correct amount is six to 23 months. During the reporting process, the sentence was misheard in the courtroom. 

Close to a decade of malfeasance nearly caused a much-needed ambulance service that has been around for 80 years to close their doors.

Members of the Bucks County Rescue Squad, which serves residents between Bristol Borough and Bristol Township, said the nonprofit organization was brought to its knees due to former Chief Scott Mel Bahner, 50, of Bensalem, taking $127,942.48 from the service.

Bahner was sentenced by Bucks County Judge Wallace Bateman Wednesday afternoon to six months to 23 months in county prison starting July 6. He ordered him to serve 36 months of concurrent probation and to be screened for house arrest.

Bahner pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful taking and access device fraud in December.

Bahner, who served as rescue squad chief since 2009, stepped down from his leadership job in 2018 as scrutiny of the organization’s finances increased.

Bahner’s resignation from the Bucks County Rescue Squad came as Bristol Township Council was moving forward with a plan to remove the medical response service as the primary provider for a large portion of the community. Council later tabled the plan after an uproar from the Bristol Borough and township community.

Prosecutors said that Bahner forged signatures, altered documents, and concealed the real use of rescue squad funds. They also noted he was not upfront with detectives about the full scope of the thefts.

Investigators from the Bucks County Detectives said Bahner made at least $40,710 in unauthorized credit card purchases, including from QVC, big box stores, Amazon, eateries, and Verizon. They additionally said he wrote $87,232 in checks from the rescue squad to himself and a family members to buy personal items. Some of the items paid for by Bahner with the nonprofit’s funds were his son’s drug treatment, car repairs, and credit card bills.

Deputy District Attorney Marc Furber pointed to the fact the thefts took place over years and happened while Bahner was making $79,000 from the rescue squad and as much as $20,000 from a part-time job at the Bristol Township Police Department. The prosecutor noted Bahner’s wife worked as well.

According to federal records from 2018, Bahner’s wife made a base salary of $130,000 in 2017, putting the couple’s annual income around $200,000.

In 2019, LevittownNow.com reviewed public records and reported that Bahner allegedly misled Bristol Township on the hours he worked as a community service officer at the police station and running errands for the department. Police Chief Robert Coulton sent Bahner a letter on October 30, 2017 outlining allegations and documents relating to hours he worked for the municipality, separate from his squad chief job. The police chief said that Bahner was not on-site for 1,777 hours of 2,503 hours he submitted for payment.

After receiving the letter, Bahner repaid the money voluntarily via check in November 2017 and resigned from his job with the police department, according to township documents and a copy of the check.

Current Bucks County Rescue Squad Chief Marty Liczbinski told Bateman and the court Wednesday that Bahner’s thefts over years “jeopardized the community and the livelihood of the staff.” He noted that Bahner hired him and was someone he looked up to until the former chief’s greed became clear.

“The greed of one person put the community at risk,” rescue squad administrator Kimberly Dicken said.

The Bucks County Rescue Squad employee said that Bahner tricked staff who looked up to him into thinking that he had their best interest at heart.

Dicken noted that Bahner told staff there was no money for raises or holiday bonuses for frontline staff while he was taking funds from the organization.

Harry Crohe, a 56-year active volunteer with the Bucks County Rescue Squad, said he and his wife, Cathy, considered Bahner a son until the missing money was uncovered.

“We trusted him more than words can ever express,” he said, adding the community at large also trusted him.

Crohe said there was “no remorse shown” by the former chief whose criminal actions almost caused the ambulance squad to shutter. He noted the thefts included funds that were to be used for a holiday party for the hard-working medics, adding the situation risked more than 30 people losing their jobs.

A letter was read into the record a letter from Bahner’s 18-year-old daughter. She wanted the judge to know that her dad was a good man who has always helped those in need, inspiring her to help and pursue a college course study of pre-law and criminology.

The daughter pointed blame at the rescue squad and its members for not providing support for her dad. She said the situation destroyed “my father’s heart and mind.”

Valerie Stella-Bahner, the former chief’s wife, told the court of her husband’s good deals, including helping save the life of a neighbor who was in a serious wreck, taking care of a neighbor with cancer, and assisting her aging Korean War veteran father.

Stella-Bahner, a nurse who works for the federal government, said her husband, who previously served also as a firefighter and a member assigned to a special federal emergency response task force, was “not the same person” in recent years on the job after his son’s drug addiction became worse and two suicides of young medics he mentored.

Like her daughter, she shifted some blame on the rescue squad for not helping her husband. She also noted that her family loaned a nebulizer to a member of the rescue squad board and never received it back.

Nino Stella, Bahner’s father-in-law and Korean War veteran, said the 50-year-old former emergency worker has helped him and been a friend.

“Scott does more for me than my own family,” Stella told the court, noting most of his family lives far away.

Bahner spoke to the court during his allocution and said his son’s drug addiction and the suicide of the two medics under his command weakened him. He said the “constant stress and power of emotions pushed me to the edge.”

He said responding to drug overdoses constantly and hearing emergency responders question why they were saving people dealing with drug issues added more stress. While he said he often agreed publicly, he went upstairs at the station and laid on the floor following those calls.

While Bahner said his “denial was strong” as he spiraled out of control, he did not address why exactly he stole the funds from the nonprofit tasked with saving lives.

Bahner said the accepted “full responsibility” and said he “failed members of the rescue squad.”

The rescue squad will be paid full restitution through the court seizing the amount of money he took and court costs from his IRA.

Lou Hornstine, Bahner’s attorney, asked the judge for probation as the sentencing, noting the funds are being repaid.

“It isn’t a dollar a year for 100,000 years,” he said. “It’s full restitution.”

Hornstine read letters of support for Bahner into the record and told the judge everyone knows what Bahner did.

“He lost his identity … he’s a pariah. That’s a penalty greater than what you or anyone could impose,” he said.

The attorney read a letter from mental health expert Dr. Paul Dikun. The doctor said Bahner had adjustment disorder with anxiety, PTSD, and major depression and that his current condition was “fragile.” The expert noted those illnesses can inhibit good decision making.

“This happened over a decade. This became part of your routine,” the judge said.

“These were your friends. I don’t know how you could do that to them, the community,” the judge added before sentencing Bahner.

The judge noted during the sentencing the thorough work on the case by Bucks County Detective Eric Landamia. He urged criminals to “fess up” if Landamia is asking questions.

Last year in a similar but unconnected case, Morrisville Ambulance Squad former treasurer and operations supervisor Ruth Roxy Rookstool, 59, of Morrisville, was sentenced to 15 to 36 months in prison for a scheme involving that organization. The Morrisville squad’s former Chief Brian Eckert, 42, of Falls Township, was sentenced in October to four to 23 months of house arrest.

 

Editor’s Note: Lou Hornstine has served as an attorney for LevittownNow.com and its parent company but has no editorial influence over news articles published.

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