WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The FBI's investigation of Wilkes-Barre City Employees FCU may be tied to a wider probe involving Wilkes-Barre City Hall, city police officers and the town's longtime towing contractor, according to a published report.
On March 10, Jim Payne, head of Wilkes-Barre City Employees FCU,
Sean Quinn, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Scranton, Pa., office attributed Payne's death to "a byproduct of corruption." The FBI has served a subpoena on Wilkes-Barre City Employees FCU, with Quinn stating arrests would be coming.
He did not say, though, if Payne, 50, had been a target.
The Citizens Voice reported that FBI agents have conducted dozens of interviews, including the late-night interrogation of a former police officer, and this month subpoenaed numerous credit union records, including loan agreements, according to law enforcement officials and others with knowledge of the case.
The newspaper also reported that Payne was requested to appear before a federal grand jury in Scranton, but died the day before his scheduled testimony.
Recently retired Wilkes-Barre police officer Tino Ninotti, has been questioned by the FBI, and agents believe he had knowledge of possible connections among the officers, auto loans from the credit union and the city's towing contractor, Leo Glodzik III, according to The Citizens Voice.
A person with knowledge of the credit union subpoenas confirmed the FBI asked for auto loan agreements but would not say if they involved Glodzik or his towing company.
Last April, Glodzik admitted letting Wilkes-Barre police officers borrow luxury cars and trucks, including a Mercedes-Benz and Chevrolet Camaro, that he owned despite a policy that forbids them from accepting favors and gifts.
The Citizens Voice reported that City officials suspended Glodzik's contract last June after prosecutors charged him with felony theft and a misdemeanor count of theft from a motor vehicle after he allegedly split more than $2,000 found in a towed car with a state police trooper, who was acting in a sting operation.
Following Payne's death, NCUA auditors and the FBI descended on the credit union, with a published report putting the numbers at a half-dozen FBI agents and five NCUA staff.
The $42 million-asset credit union had not lost money in the last four years, making an $81,091 profit in 2013. However, net income has declined steadily since 2010, when the institution made $345,698. Net worth stood at 12.3% at the end of 2013.
Quinn said the FBI considered the credit union as a "witness" and a "victim" in an ongoing criminal investigation, adding individual employees of the credit union were potential targets of the investigation. Payne was one of three employees at the CU.
Published reports have brought attention, as well, to Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton exclusively doing appraisals for the credit union. Leighton owns a real estate business, C.A. Leighton Co. Inc. The CU rents space on the first floor of Wilkes-Barre City Hall.
Payne's apparent suicide comes less than a year after the late John DuPree Jr., former manager of Shiloh of Alexandria FCU,
