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Ex-administrator sentenced
EBENSBURG — A former administrator of a Johnstown assisted-living facility was put on probation for five years and ordered to pay $46,000 restitution for the money she stole from an elderly resident’s bank account by forging his name on checks.
Debra Zilch, 44, of the 900 block of Belmont Street in Johnstown, also was ordered to pay $1,600 in fines and fees on her guilty pleas to four felony counts of forgery.
County detectives had accused her of writing checks drawn on the account of a resident, then 91 years old, and cashing the checks between
May 21 and Aug. 6, 2008.
The theft came to light after another resident reported to the Area Agency on Aging that someone had stolen a large amount of money from a resident’s checking account.
At the time, Zilch was administrator and part owner of Speciality LifeCare Service, 429 Napoleon St. in Johnstown’s Kernville section. The facility later was closed by the state Department of Welfare for a series of deficiencies.
On Tuesday, Johnstown attorney Caram J. Abood, who represents Zilch, told Judge Timothy Creany, “The (stolen) money did not directly benefit Miss Zilch. She unwisely thought she was helping a charitable group. That’s no excuse, but a mitigating factor.”
Zilch said, “I felt truly I was helping a good cause which ended up being a scam.”
But Creany said he was bothered that Zilch thought she was being good-hearted when using someone else’s money.
Afterward, Abood said that Zilch sent the money to what she thought was a type of Special Olympics based in another country.
Zilch for more than 10 years was Cambria County manager of Special Olympics, a position she no longer holds.
Kevin Price, the county detective who filed the charges,
said, “Our investigation showed she paid for personal expenses, a mortgage and paying off a vehicle with the money that she took from this elderly gentleman.”
Zilch, a first-time offender, could have faced a month in jail under state sentencing guidelines, the judge said. But Creany said he took into account a report from Zilch’s doctor saying she has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis.
Zilch said she could start paying $200 a month toward restitution. She said she had remortgaged her house once and is trying to do so again to lower her mortgage payment so she can pay back more money.
The judge said the payment issue would be reviewed in four months unless she voluntarily advises him that she can pay more before that time.
The victim of the theft is living in another personal care home in the Johnstown area.
Zilch also faces a preliminary hearing Dec. 9 before District Judge John Barron on a new charge of insurance fraud.
That charge was filed in November by the state Attorney General’s Office, which alleges that she submitted a false insurance claim to collect on damage to her SUV.
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