The former acting Sheriff of Huntingdon County has been accused of two counts each of theft and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received while he was in office from early 2000 until June 22, 2001.
David Lynn Harker, 49, of Alexandria, R.R. 1, was arraigned on the charges Tuesday at the office of District Justice Elizabeth Doyle in Hollidaysburg. Trooper David Aiello of Hollidaysburg is the arresting officer. The county case was transferred at the end of October by Judge Stewart Kurtz to Blair County because of Harker’s former involvement in the county and to avoid a possible conflict of interest.
In an interview earlier this year, Harker allegedly told Trooper Aiello that he took responsibility for the transactions, defending them as not for his own personal gain, but spent for the “good of the department.” Harker alleged he went to the county commissioners and asked for money to buy a deputy a winter coat and was refused. He allegedly said the commissioners “should have seen it coming, that you can’t run a sheriff’s department without proper funding. They so much as told me that I would have to come up with the money to meet the expenses.”
Harker is currently a part-time police officer for the Juniata Valley Regional Police in Petersburg and for Saxton Borough and Liberty Township in Bedford County. He is the DARE instructor at the Juniata Valley School District. Unconfirmed reports indicate Harker has been temporarily suspended from his duties as a JVRP officer. The Saxton Borough secretary offered “no comment” on Harker’s status.
According to Trooper Aiello, Harker is charged with stealing or misappropriating $8,169.53 remitted to or controlled by the Sheriff’s Department. Of this total, nearly $1,000 pertains to money confiscated from defendant Phillip Stanley Heck, 42, of Shamokin. The remainder is connected to Huntingdon County.
The investigation was conducted following a routine audit of the Sheriff’s Department accounts and files, following Harker’s departure from office in June 2001 when the current elected sheriff, William Walters, was appointed to the office.
Heck was arrested by deputies Aug. 15, 2000, during the Huntingdon County Fair. Deputies seized $991 from Heck and placed his money into secure storage. On Jan. 4, 2001, a deposit was made in the sheriff’s calendar account (a checking account) in the amount of $987 and noted as a deposit from “Heck drug money.” This transfer of money occurred prior to District Attorney Robert Stewart having “nolle prossed” the criminal case against Heck in July 2001.
