Former Luzerne County worker loses pension contribution due to conviction

Former Luzerne County worker Lisa Price won’t receive funds she paid toward her county pension due to her conviction for stealing funds when she worked as a magisterial district judge clerk, the county Retirement Board decided Wednesday.

Instead, her $68,729 in contributions, which includes interest earnings, will be applied toward restitution she owes, officials said.

The Wilkes-Barre woman pleaded guilty to the felony charge in April and was sentenced to seven years of probation in May.

Price was also ordered to pay $137,594 including $50,000 to the county and $87,594 to National Union Insurance Company, as restitution, according to prior reporting.

County detectives charged Price with taking cash, money orders and check payments when she worked at District Court 11-1-02 from 2018 through March 2023, according to court records.

Thomas Malloy is the elected district judge for District Court 11-1-02.

The investigation began when the Pennsylvania Auditor General’s Office conducted an audit in 2022 and found 48 instances of deposits that were not made over a period of several years.

Detectives placed hidden cameras inside the district court office located at Hazle Street and South Pennsylvania Boulevard that reportedly captured Price removing envelopes from a bank bag she placed into her purse, court records say.

Under the state’s Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act, former employees are not eligible for a pension or interest on their contributions toward a pension if they are convicted of certain crimes related to their employment. The actual employee contributions also can be seized if restitution is owed.

The county Retirement Board had declined to approve Price’s past request for a pension when the charges against her were still pending.

Board Solicitor Donald Karpowich said the board had adopted this practice because a former employee found not guilty would be entitled to a pension paid retroatively.

Because Price was convicted and owes restitution, the board must apply her pension contributions to the restitution instead of refunding it to her, he said.

Pension high

The county’s employee pension fund ended the second quarter of the year with a balance of $327 million — a record high, fund advisor Richard Hazzouri, of Morgan Stanley, told the board Wednesday.

This equates to a return of 5.7% and $17.6 million in net investment earnings for the second quarter, Hazzouri said.

With the county’s public pension fund, the goal is maximizing returns without exposing it to undue risk — all while making sure enough cash is always available to cover ongoing pensions, Hazzouri has said.

An annual county subsidy is required to close a past gap that emerged between fund assets and liabilities.