The Chairman of the Pottsville Democratic Committee and executive director of Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority is facing felony theft charges after he allegedly stole money from the volunteer fire company where he’s a member.
Pottsville Police say they’ve filed felony theft and receiving stolen property charges against Joseph Spotts this week. The charges were originally filed in the court of District Magistrate Judge James Reiley. However, Reiley recused himself so the charges were sent to Schuylkill County Court Administration to be reassigned to another magistrate. As of this posting, those charges have not been reassigned but are expected to be on Friday.
In a release from Pottsville Bureau of Police, the department was dispatched to Humane Fire Co., at Third St. and Laurel Blvd. in the city, for a report of a theft. It was reported to police that $2,100 in cash was stolen over a three-week period. The alleged theft was reportedly caught on camera and fire company leadership identified the culprit as Spotts, who serves as bar manager at Humane Fire Co. and has been a member there for 48 years.
Officials at Humane reportedly told police that they grew suspicious on March 17 when discrepancies were noticed with the balance of their cash box for Pennsylvania Skill machines.
Security footage from inside the fire house reportedly shows that on March 12, at 11:55, Spotts enters the office, opens the safe, and removes the money box for the Skill machines. He then sits at a desk adjacent to the safe. Spotts then is reportedly seen on security footage removing receipts and cash from the box. He then returns several receipts and some of the cash to the box and puts the money box in the safe. Spotts then uses a computer for a short time before picking up the remaining cash he didn’t put in the money box, folds it in half and then exits the office.Â
Police say they learned through the course of their investigation that Spotts was not authorized to be in that office where this activity occurred and was not to access the safe.
Initially, Spotts told Humane Fire Co. President AJ Alves that he was holding on to larger receipts from the Skill machines and that was the reason for the accounting discrepancy.
Alves reportedly told police that after this incident on March 17, he began monitoring the surveillance footage more closely. On March 22, he told police, Spotts is again seen entering the office of the fire company, counting a large sum of money and then returning it to the Skill machines money box.Â
Police say Alves and Humane Trustee Edward Ebling confronted Spotts with the video evidence they’d accumulated. That’s when Spotts reportedly admitted to taking more than $2,000 over the course of three separate incidents in March. Spotts allegedly paid back the money he’d confessed to taking on March 22.
Spotts was later interviewed by police. He reportedly admitted that he “borrowed the money” because he’d been short on funds and only borrowed it with the full intention of paying it back to the fire company. He reportedly told police that he was broke and applied for a loan when the accounting discrepancies were found. When police asked Spotts why he didn’t just apply for a loan in the first place, they say he had no response.
Fallout from the Accusations
Spotts holds several significant positions within Pottsville.
Most notably, he’s the Chairman of the Pottsville Democratic Committee and was recently hired as Executive Director of Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority. Spotts also serves on the Pottsville Redevelopment Authority board.
Spotts was hired as executive director at the Sewer Authority in October 2024 at a salary of $110,000.
According to a report from the Republican Herald, Spotts resigned his position within the Democrat Party and is no longer on the Redevelopment Authority board.
At a special meeting of the Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority on Thursday evening, board members there voted unanimously to accept Spotts’ resignation.
Upon accepting Spotts’ resignation, Sewer Authority board president Barry DeWitt said, “The executive director is a position of great public trust and high public visibility. Given the credible and serious nature of the allegations, this board, under the advice of our solicitor, wanted to act quickly and transparently.
The meeting Thursday evening was held without 24-hours notice to the public. Sewer Authority Solicitor Ed Brennan said due to the emergency nature of the accusations, he felt it was necessary to hold the meeting as soon as possible.
“You have a guy in a position like this accused of theft. I’m not saying it happened but the funds and the property of the authority could be at risk,” Brennan said as justification for having the meeting as soon as possible. “We didn’t have time to advertise the meeting.”
Brennan said a notice of the meeting was posted to the Sewer Authority website and added that it’s sometimes difficult to get an expedited notice in the local newspaper, especially lately.
“There’s no indication he took anything from the Authority but the fact is, he’s the executive director. He controls millions of dollars. We couldn’t risk it,” Brennan added.
He said the Sewer Authority board may explore a potential audit of its finances “just to be safe.”
DeWitt said that Spotts has turned over all Sewer Authority property in his possession.
“I think I speak on behalf of the board when I say this is an unfortunate evening. It’s a sad evening for us all,” DeWitt said.
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