DA: Phila. courts supervisor stole $155K in bail money

A former Philadelphia courts supervisor was charged today with stealing over $155,000 in bail money from a city prison, authorities said.

Steven Martorano, 42, of South Philadelphia, served as  at Curran-Fromhold as supervisor of the first judicial district bail acceptance unit. The job of the unit was to collect money posted for bail, document the transactions, and deposit the money in an office safe. Martorano regularly instructed his cashiers not to seal their bank deposit bags when there were discrepancies, saying he would recount the money and resolve their issues.

According to the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, Martorano "suddenly and unexpectedly resigned" in February 2011 after new accounting procedures were put in place. About the same time, the logbooks and government records associated with the unit also disappeared. An internal audit determined that between September 2010 and February 2011, 13 bank deposit bags totaling $155,440 were never picked up by Brinks security couriers or deposited into the court's bank account.

While he was employed by the courts, Martorano also operated a helicopter business, a pizza shop and an real estate investment company. None of them were profitable. He was seen on several occasions with the court money deposit bags in his Chaucer Street house. As his businesses foundered, Martorano deposited about $235,000 into those companies' bank accounts, according to the District Attorney's office.

In addition to 13 counts of theft, Martorano was also charged with receiving stolen property and tampering with public records.

He surrendered to detectives from the DA's office this afternoon.