DuBois ex-city manager will face federal charges

State attorney general withdraws counts for case to be sent to feds

CLEARFIELD -- The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office withdrew charges against the former DuBois city manager accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city and other agencies, giving the prosecution of the crimes to the federal government.

During a preliminary hearing in Clearfield County Court on Tuesday, state prosecutor Mary Summer Fort Carroll confirmed to specially presiding District Judge Carmine W. Prestia Jr. that the state wanted to withdraw the charges filed in October against John "Herm" Suplizio of DuBois.

It was noted the original charges will also not be prosecuted by the state, and paperwork to reflect this will be filed in the Court of Common Pleas. Suplizio had waived his right to a hearing on those charges shortly after they were filed in March.

On Nov. 16, it was announced that Suplizio, 63, was indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of conspiracy and federal program fraud, along with Roberta Shaffer, 58, a city employee.

According to the federal indictment, from 2014-22, Suplizio and Shaffer conspired to divert and steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds.

"As the full-time, salaried city manager, Suplizio maintained substantial authority in DuBois, where he ran the city's day-to-day operations. As alleged, beginning as early as 2008, Suplizio and Shaffer used the city's tax identification number to establish secret bank accounts into which they diverted city money, including approximately $60,000 in annual administrative fees from the city's waste management contract," according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Western District of Pennsylvania.

They are accused of making large cash withdrawals from these unaudited accounts, writing checks to themselves and others, totaling more than $350,000, the release said.

In addition, they "allegedly spent more than $450,000 from the accounts toward payments on Suplizio's personal credit card, which he used to pay for personal vacations, utility bills for his residence, department store purchases, and jewelry store purchases, among other personal expenses."

"Our communities entrust public officials like Suplizio with tremendous authority, and when that trust is violated -- as is alleged here -- this office and our federal and state law enforcement partners will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law," U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan stated in the release.

Motions for extensions of time to file pretrial motions on both Suplizio and Shaffer's federal cases have been granted with a new deadline of Jan. 2, according to court documents.

The charges stem from a search warrant executed on Suplizio's residence and offices in April 2022, during which records of his banking activities and other accounts were seized, according to previous reports.

The state grand jury proceeding covered Suplizio's finances starting in 2014.

Suplizio, in addition to being the city manager since 2010, was also the executive director of the DuBois Area United Way, was affiliated with the DuBois Volunteer Fire Department and handled funds for DuBois Community Days.

Other accusations in the previous cases involve a bag with $93,920 in cash DuBois city solicitor Toni Cherry turned over to the city in May.

The money came from the Community Fund and had been at the DuBois Area United Way building, Cherry said. Suplizio gave it to her "to keep the PA OAG from confiscating it," she told the authorities, but she could not recall when he gave her the cash, according to the documents with the second case.

The money was placed into a new DuBois City account.

An investigation was also done into Suplizio's JH Suplizio Battalion One Fire Equipment Company. The purpose of the company was to sell fire equipment to local fire departments which charged "a markup of about 50% of what the purchase price would have been if they had purchased directly from the manufacturer," it says in the criminal complaint.

DuBois city residents have been angry about how the city is handling Suplizio's situation, leading to a write-in campaign for council seats with Jennifer Jackson and Elliot Gelfand winning in the spring primary and earning seats on the council in the November election.

In August, they and Mike Clement filed a lawsuit against the city to keep the "lame duck" council from continuing to pay Suplizio, who was on paid leave, or buying out his contract. This injunction remains in effect.

Suplizio's contract doesn't end until March 2025.