An Allegheny County Sheriff’s deputy was arrested Thursday on felony theft charges, accused of pocketing more than $10,000 he’d collected from a defendant as part of a civil court case.
Deputy Donald M. Modrick, 49, of West Mifflin, was fired after he turned himself in around 10 a.m. on charges of theft, receiving stolen property, misapplication of entrusted property, unsworn falsification, obstructing administrative law and official oppression.
Mr. Modrick, who was hired in 2001, worked in the sheriff’s writ division, and part of his job was to collect money from defendants in civil cases after a judge ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff.
Typically, deputies collect money from defendants, then turn the money into the sheriff’s office, which, in 10 days time, gives the money to the plaintiffs, Chief Deputy Kevin Kraus said Thursday. However, Mr. Modrick kept money he collected from at least one woman, according to a criminal complaint.
Authorities say Mr. Modrick collected at least $10,275 from Tanis Cochrane, owner of Buono Bros. Memorials, a business that makes gravestones in Dravosburg. Ms. Cochrane had been ordered to pay $7,934 and $5,155 to two granite companies who sued Buono Bros., claiming they delivered granite that Buono Bros. never paid for.
Investigators believe Mr. Modrick, a personal friend of Ms. Cochrane’s, collected 18 checks from the woman -- which she made out to him -- and deposited the funds in his personal bank account instead of handing them over to the sheriff’s office. Ms. Cochrane also made several cash payments to Mr. Modrick -- believing she was paying the court-ordered judgements.
Investigators aren’t sure exactly how much cash was exchanged but Ms. Cochrane estimated she gave Mr. Modrick about $15,000 in cash and checks between January 2017 and October 2017.
Mr. Modrick filed paperwork with the courts that indicated Ms. Cochrane could not be reached, so there was no official record of her payments. Ms. Cochrane did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The sheriff’s office learned of the allegations on April 27, Chief Deputy Kraus said, after an attorney for one of the granite companies raised concern that the company had not received any payments from Buono Bros.
The sheriff’s office alerted the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office in addition to beginning an internal investigation, and Mr. Modrick was suspended at that time.
Chief Deputy Kraus said the sheriff’s office is looking into whether Mr. Modrick pocketed cash from any other people, and asked that any potential victims contact investigators.
“Something like that is very, very hard for us to detect unless someone brought the information forward, as in this case,” he said. “It would be nearly impossible for us to know.”
Chief Deputy Kraus said the sheriff’s office will review their policies to see whether changes need to be made to prevent further abuse of the system, but said he doesn’t anticipate a major overhaul.
“Every other sheriff’s office in the other 66 counties throughout the state do the same thing, and this has been done for sometime,” he said. “I think it comes down to hiring the right people, putting the right people in these positions based on their integrity, their work performance, merit. I think that’s essential to what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future.”
Mr. Modrick could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Shelly Bradbury: 412-263-1999, sbradbury@post-gazette.com or follow @ShellyBradbury on Twitter.
First Published: May 10, 2018, 4:01 p.m.
Updated: May 10, 2018, 7:04 p.m.
