Monessen fire department president charged with unauthorized use of department bank account

A former Monessen volunteer fire department president has been charged with stealing more than $30,000 from the department’s bank account over the past four years, according to city police.

Stephen A. Gaydos III, 49, of Monessen, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, access device fraud and related charges. Fellow firefighters told police he admitted to taking the money and did not pay it back after being granted nearly nine months to do so.

According to a sworn affidavit, officials at Monessen Fire Department No. 1 were consolidating the department’s bank accounts and asked Gaydos — fire department president at the time — to close a Citizens Bank account for the “Volunteer Fire Department and Relief Association Monessen PA Club Dues.”

In May 2024, the department’s board of directors chairman, John Palmer, said Gaydos turned in $7 and some change and said he’d closed out the account. Palmer told police — and Gaydos, according to court records — that he knew there was significantly more money in the account, which the department had used for its fundraising and social hall rentals.

When Palmer went to Citizens Bank to find out more about the account, bank officials told him it was still open, and that the names on the account included Gaydos as well as firefighter Paul Buchko, according to court records.

Palmer told police he was not aware that Buchko still had access to the account, and when Palmer contacted him to get bank statements for the past few years, he saw numerous ATM transactions and bank account transfers that were not authorized by the department.

Palmer told police he was not aware that Gaydos had a debit card for the department’s account.

In an emergency board meeting on May 7, 2024, Palmer said he and others confronted Gaydos about the transactions and transfers, and told police Gaydos admitted the transfers were to his bank account and he had taken the money.

Police independently spoke with other board members in attendance, who confirmed Gaydos’ admission. Palmer said Gaydos also offered to sell one of his rental properties and pay the money back to the fire department, according to court documents.

Working with the fire department’s attorney, an agreement was drafted requiring Gaydos to pay back the total taken, $31,685.16, within 60 days and resign from the department, or face prosecution. The agreement was signed and notarized in the presence of a district magistrate, police said in court records.

Palmer told police Gaydos had issues selling the property, and another agreement was signed in August, requiring Gaydos to pay $27,000 by Sept. 9, 2024, and $1,000 per month until he reached a total of $5,000. When Gaydos again failed to pay back any of the money, yet another agreement was drafted, extending his time until Nov. 10, 2024.

On Nov. 15, Palmer called city police to say that Gaydos had not paid back any of the money. Police were granted a search warrant in December for records pertaining to a Citizens Bank account belonging to Gaydos and his business, Go 2 Guys Remodeling, where they were able to confirm the transactions and transfers.

Gaydos declined comment for this story. An attorney was not listed in court records.

In total, police said Gaydos undertook more than 120 transactions and money transfers between late 2020 and 2024.

He was charged on Wednesday and released on $100,000 unsecured bond. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 24 before in Judge Wayne Vlasic’s Monessen court.