The American Repossessor

WILKES-BARRE – Things just keep getting worse for Peter Paul Moses, the financially ravaged former community college dean on trial for pilfering thousands of dollars from a campus cafeteria.

As Moses’ former colleagues were on the witness stand Tuesday – describing him for jurors as a brazen thief with a penchant for plucking cash straight from the registers – a repossession team was hauling his 2002 Lincoln Town Car from a courthouse parking garage.

The two-man crew left with the creme-colored sedan around 3:30 p.m., following an hour-long process that stretched from the parking garage to the courtroom. The crew used a wheel clamp to temporarily secure the vehicle as a sheriff’s deputy walked into court to obtain a key from Moses.

After the trial adjourned for the day, family members huddled around the defense table, offering Moses a ride home.

Moses eventually left the courtroom with his brother, Dr. George Moses. He could not be reached for comment. His attorney, William Ruzzo, did not return a telephone message Tuesday evening.

A man who would only identify himself as the head of the repossession firm confirmed that the vehicle – with markings from a Plains Township dealership and a cracked rear bumper – belonged to Moses, but declined to detail why it was being taken.

The man, who stopped to speak briefly with a security guard after a colleague drove the car away, also declined to identify the name of his firm or the creditor that contracted him to retake the vehicle, citing confidentiality concerns.

Under state law, a creditor has the right to seize a vehicle at any time, without notice, if the owner defaults on a loan or lease. It is unclear if Moses missed payments on the Lincoln, as he has on a home mortgage, credit cards and several student loans.

Moses, 59, filed for bankruptcy in October 2005, has faced a mortgage foreclosure and a wage garnishment and was “drowning in financial problems” at the time money started disappearing from the community college, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, Moses stole 13 cash deposits between September 2005 and April 2007, worth more than $17,000, and kept two laptop computers, worth $1,598, for personal use after they had been purchased for the college’s Educational Conference Center.

Sheldon Owens, the manager of the cafeteria at Luzerne County Community College, used a wall calendar to note each day’s cash deposits and, testifying Tuesday, said he noticed money disappeared only when Moses personally handled it.

Owens said he questioned Moses about the missing cash several times and each time received the same rote responses: “I left it in my car,” or “I left it in my desk,” and “I’ll take care of it.”

A month after the last theft at the community college, in May 2007, Moses crashed the Lincoln into a curb off Wyoming Avenue in Edwardsville, according to court records.

Investigators said Moses appeared intoxicated: his eyes were bloodshot and had trouble standing. Blood tests indicated a blood-alcohol content level of .22 – nearly three times the legal limit of .08.

Moses agreed to enter a six-month rehabilitation program for first-time offenders and, despite bouncing a $300 check for fines and probation fees, eventually had the charges withdrawn.

In his bankruptcy filing, Moses claimed more than $230,665 in debts, including $80,727 for mortgage obligations, $43,053 in student loans, $23,142 in unpaid American Express travel and credit card expenses and $6,935 in unpaid state taxes.

At the same time, Moses was claiming a modest net worth – $25 in cash, $5 in a savings account and $400 in a checking account. Under state law, if convicted, he could be forced to forfeit his college pension, valued at $125,000.

Until his firing in the wake of the theft scandal, Moses earned an annual salary of $73,000 and, after taxes and other deductions, netted about $3,922 each month. In the bankruptcy filing, he claimed $3,271 in monthly expenses, including a $347 car payment.

The Lincoln is not specifically mentioned in the bankruptcy filing, which lists two vehicles: a 2000 Acura TL worth $6,600 and an unspecified model in his wife Colleen’s name.

At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Moses owed $8,447 on a credit union loan for the Acura. It is unclear from the bankruptcy documents if he owed money on the Lincoln.