Hellertown Council to vote on convicted former police chief getting his $32K pension pay-in

HELLERTOWN, Pa. — Former Hellertown Police Chief Robert Shupp, who recently was sentenced to prison time for stealing money from the borough, is lined up to get about $32,000 in pension contributions.

The borough’s Police Pension Board on Tuesday discussed that figure — $32,066.21 — which doesn’t include a defined pension benefit or interest accrued during Shupp’s time in the role, and voted to send it to Borough Council for approval subject to further review.

Before the vote, there were concerns whether the chief’s paychecks were inflated because of false listings of compensatory time or overtime and how that may have affected the figure.

“Even though he paid it in, if overtime was calculated with that, that is illegal money going back to him that was borough money,” former police chief and board member Robert Balum said.

Shupp was cashing out compensatory time, according to active police representative to the board, Jaron Steinmetz; when that’s the case, he said, nothing is taken out for an individual’s pension.

In the meantime, officials said Shupp’s attorney, Gary Asteak, would review and endorse a written agreement with his client before council took any vote.

Shupp will have the option to take a cash distribution, which would be subject to 20% withholding because of federal income tax, or sign for a direct rollover to another plan.

Borough Council is scheduled to meet next on June 2.

Prison time, probation to come

Shupp, who began his tenure as chief in 2009, at one point faced 18 charges total, including forgery, theft, tampering with official records and receiving stolen property.

The former chief will do nine to 23 months in Northampton County Prison, spend three years after that on probation and pay $10,000 in fines — even after he paid $41,000 in restitution to the borough related to charges of forgery and theft.

This month, officials approved a resolution citing the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act in terminating Shupp’s accrued defined pension benefit retroactive to his guilty plea on March 6.

That plea was associated with charges of theft by taking, theft by deception, and forgery.

Ahead of the plea, prosecutors dropped charges related to Shupp receiving more than $81,000 in pay for roughly 1,600 hours he falsely claimed he worked.

Citing a dishonest employee policy, acting Hellertown Council Vice Chairman Thomas Rieger said the borough has a claim valued at about $80,000 pending with its insurance company.

“He found the crack and was very good at manipulating his budget to hide it,” Rieger said, adding that there now are further safeguards in place to prevent it from happening again.

Northampton County Judge John Morganelli said it appeared Shupp took the money “because he could get away with it.”

A third-party review of the police department released last year showed a policy manual 20 years past its last regular update, excessive use of overtime to meet patrol needs, a “lax” chain of command, inadequate leadership training for supervisors, and an overcrowded police facility.

'Good funding position'

With a police pension plan currently valued at nearly $8 million, more than half of that from equities and stocks, Laura Prego of Foster & Foster actuarial consulting firm said the account is in “good funding position.”

It shows a year-to-date total equity gain of 0.45%, officials said.

“The plan is weathering these market fluctuations with the tariffs and things of that nature,” said Michael Corriere, board secretary and solicitor.