Convicted cop asks for pension
A pension forfeiture hearing will be set by the city Police Pension Board for former city police officer Thomas H. Ungard Jr., who was convicted of tampering with public records and obstruction of justice while he was a city officer.
Under the state Pension Forfeiture Act, if a conviction occurs while an individual is a public employee, he or she is subject to having the pension forfeited, said city solicitor Norman Lubin during Thursday night’s police pension board meeting.
The original date for the hearing was set for March 2, but that might be moved with a member of the board having a scheduling conflict.
Ungard and former Cpl. Dustin Kreitz were charged after a statewide grand jury investigation that began after Ungard, then a lieutenant and head of the former Lycoming County Drug Task Force, and then-city Police Chief John McKenna in June 2006 used a pickup truck forfeited by a drug dealer to take Ungard’s boat to Canada for a fishing trip.
Ungard was found guilty of charges involving the transfer of two forfeited vehicles to another person and back to him. Ungard was charged by the state Attorney General’s Office in June 2007.
Ungard’s sentence was 18 months probation and a $750 fine imposed Oct. 12, 2011. The state Superior Court rejected Ungard’s claims he did not get a speedy trial, prosecutorial misconduct and insufficiency of the evidence.
The Attorney General’s Office withdrew most of the charges against Kreitz, who in January 2012 pleaded guilty to a count that he failed to report receipt of a big-screen television from the task force, a misdemeanor for which he was fined $350.
Also on Thursday, the board held its routine pension payment decisions and authorized pensions for the following four officers: Jeff Paulhamus; $38,543; Donald Barrett Jr.; $44,489; Mark Lindauer, $51,045; and Timothy Miller, partial pension, $40,741.
COMMENTS