Schuylkill County Commissioners OK’d a settlement this week with the incarcerated former Clerk of Courts Steve Lukach for money he claims to have been owed.
It’s hard to wrap your head around the idea of giving money to a corrupt public official who was taken down in a federal investigation into his illicit activities in office. But on Wednesday, the Commissioners unanimously approved a payment in the amount of $13,410.84 to Lukach.
The money, according to the County, covers pension payments (+ interest), supplemental health insurance premiums, and prescription drug payments the disgraced former Clerk of Courts would have received through Aug. 9, 2019.
Aug. 9 of that year as the date was the day Lukach entered a guilty plea on charges against him, including mail fraud and falsifying documents to deceive investigators.
Instead, the County cut off those payments in March, just as a plea agreement was filed in a federal court.
Lukach, of course, won’t see a dime of this money. He began serving a 27-month prison sentence back in November 2020. The Federal Bureau of Prisons indicates Lukach is currently housed at a halfway house in Philadelphia.
A federal judge, in addition to the prison term, ordered the former longtime Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts to pay nearly $16,000 in restitution. The money the Commissioners approved on Wednesday will go straight to US District Court to pay down some of Lukach’s obligation.
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