SCRANTON, Pa. — The City of Scranton Police Pension Board voted Wednesday to revoke a former patrolman turned federal convict’s disability pension.
The revocation of former Officer Paul Helring’s biweekly retirement stipend was based on Helring’s admission last year in federal court he took thousands of dollars of overtime for extra-duty shifts he never actually worked. The board did so in two votes citing a state forfeiture law and a city ordinance governing pensions.
“We’re here today because Mr. Helring chose to break the law,” said city Solicitor Jessica Eskra.
Pension board meeting minutes reviewed by Action 16 show Helring applied for and received a disability pension in August 2022, days before another former officer, Jeff Vaughn, pleaded guilty to the same conduct.
Helring wasn’t formally charged until November.
Meeting minutes show the pension board started taking steps in January to strip Helring’s pension.
Helring has received approximately $90,000 since he was first awarded his benefits. During his career, he contributed roughly $56,000 to the pension fund, according to records associated with his case.
A federal judge sentenced Helring earlier this year to six months behind bars. He’s due for release in a few weeks, according to his attorneys. He’s already paid the more than $17,000 he owed in restitution.
Much of the discussion Wednesday regarding Helring’s pension centered on a report authored by a retired judge, Joseph Van Jura, who the board hired to review the case for revoking Helring’s benefits under a state forfeiture law. That law bars public employees from collecting pensions if found guilty of a crime related to their public employment.
Helring’s position, the pension board argued, allowed him to steal from the city.
“It is undisputed that Mr. Helring’s guilty plea arises out of his public employment as a Scranton Police Officer,” the board argued in its brief.
Van Jura, however, recommended the pension board leave Helring’s retirement funds in place. That’s because, according to Van Jura, an appellate case dealing with that law narrowed the circumstances for forfeiture.
Van Jura wrote he was “constrained, indeed compelled to recommend that Mr. Helring’s pension not be subject to forfeiture.”
Helring’s attorney, Kim Borland, argued that means the board should vote to continue payment to Helring out of the pension fund.
“The only advice that is of record is that that statute does not apply to Mr. Helring’s conviction,” Borland said. “It’s unsupported.”
The board’s solicitor, Larry Durkin, said Van Jura “was wrong in this case.” The retired judge did not conduct the analysis of comparing elements of the federal crime Helring is serving time for to the state criminal statutes listed in the Pennsylvania ordinance governing forfeiture.
The elements of the federal crime must be “substantially the same,” Durkin said. The federal crime of theft is “substantially the same” as the Pennsylvania statutes of theft.
“So, the problem with Judge Van Jura’s opinion is, in fact, the opinion,” Durkin said.
The board voted to reject Van Jura’s recommendation. Not long after, the board voted to revoke Helring’s pension.
Asked if he planned to challenge the board’s decision in court, Borland said he would keep his options open.
Helring was one of three from the police department caught up in the investigation and is one of two who faced federal charges, sources have previously told Action 16’s Joe Kohut.
The other former police officer to face charges, Vaughn, was sentenced in May 2023 to six months in prison and was ordered to pay $11,243 in restitution.
A city spokesperson confirmed to Action 16 that Vaughn was fired by the city early in 2023 and only collected the money he contributed to the pension fund. Minutes from the February 2023 board meeting show that amount was $63,935.04.
A third officer, who has never been charged, has been on paid administrative leave for more than two years. The city confirmed that officer’s wages this year amount to $72,084.20.