Valley Forge finance director held for theft

A 71-year-old Norristown man who served as finance director for the Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau was busy writing checks between 2002 and 2009, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday.

Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't raise an auditor's eyebrow.

But 293 of those checks, totaling $775,509.44, were to himself, though they showed up on bureau books as payable to vendors, according to records filed in Montgomery County.

That landed William T. Barnes of Wendover Drive in District Court in Bridgeport, where he was charged with theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, and forgery.

Judge James P. Gallagher ordered Barnes held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility when he could not come up with 10 percent of $10,000 bail.

Barnes became the bureau's finance director in January 1996, court records said, but it was not until 2009, when the bureau hired an outside auditor, that accountants got onto the alleged scheme.

Barnes created a vendor file for himself, then superimposed the names of others on the checklist to hide the true nature of the disbursements, court records said.

On March 1, Barnes was called in to see county detectives. He readily admitted to the thefts, saying much of the money went to support his third wife and her two children in Maryland, according to court papers.

"He told me his third wife would always take him to court if he fell behind, and that he also paid for college for the two children as well," County Detective Michael Gilbert said in an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint.

Barnes told Gilbert that the money was gone and all he had to show for it was a Rolls-Royce that he was restoring, the affidavit said.

The bureau was a county agency until 1999, when it became a nonprofit agency. It is funded with a 2 percent hotel occupancy tax and state grants.

Paul Decker, president of the bureau, alerted detectives to the thefts, records showed.

"Mr. Barnes was a trusted employee of the bureau for 13 years. We were stunned, disappointed, and betrayed upon learning of his alleged criminal actions," Decker said in a statement. "While the bureau had internal financial controls in place, we unfortunately learned that a motivated and dedicated individual could go to great lengths to circumvent them."

Since the thefts were discovered, the bureau has implemented more stringent guidelines for money management. It also has filed a civil suit seeking restitution, Decker said.