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Old August 7th 07, 01:49 PM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
firemonkey
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Posts: 548
Default http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/news/connellsville/s_351943.html

On Aug 7, 7:46 am, " krp" wrote:
"buttmonkey" wrote in message

ups.com...

WHY DID YOU MOLEST HER DANNY? Children NEVER lie about sexual
abuse.
Come on now, relax, I can see that vein bumping in your temple kennie


The old X-ray vision buttmonkey? WHY did Danny molest his daughter?

Getting back to you college decree's, where did you say they are from
kennie?


But BUTTMONKEY - WHY did Danny molest the little girl?


You first kennie, did you know this guy?

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dail.../s_351943.html
Subscribe Now || Contact Staff || Tuesday, August 7, 2007 || Terms of
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Counselor held for court in fraud
By By Judy Kroeger
Saturday, July 9, 2005
All charges were held to court Friday against a Connellsville man
accused of working as a children's mental health counselor while
lacking the required credentials.
Leon Edward Shal Jr., 60, of South Eighth Street, faces charges of
complicity, Medicaid fraud, theft by deception and insurance fraud.
The state Attorney General's Office filed the charges, following more
than a year of investigation of Shal's employment at two counseling
centers.
story continues below

Shal will face a court arraignment in Fayette County at a later date.
At Shal's preliminary hearing yesterday before Magisterial District
Judge Ronald Haggerty, prosecution witnesses testified that Shal
worked as a member of the therapeutic support staff at Connellsville
Counseling and Psychological Services between April 20, 2000, and Feb.
19, 2003, and at Alliance Health Wraparound Inc. in Uniontown between
Feb. 25 and Sept. 26, 2003.
The defense called no witnesses.
Shal's duties involved counseling young people one-on-one. Therapeutic
support staff members are only allowed to counsel children
individually, not in groups.
According to police criminal complaints filed by the state Attorney
General, on more than one occasion Shal counseled more than one child
at a time, including trips to a bowling alley, and billed
Connellsville Counseling for the dual treatment.
All the children received Medicaid, with payments made to
Connellsville Counseling and Alliance Health through Value Behavioral
Health of Pennsylvania Inc. The payments totaled $153,103.
Additionally, Shal's positions required that he have a bachelor's
degree. When he applied for the jobs, Shal listed a bachelor of arts
in criminology received in 1986 from Shaftesbury University in London
on his resume. The British university is not accredited.
Prosecutor Jeff Baxter called Timothy Thompson, assistant director of
admissions for the University of Pittsburgh, who reviews foreign-
education credentials for Pitt as an expert witness to testify about
the validity of Shal's diploma.
Thompson said that Shaftesbury is not "recognized," which is the
European equivalent of America's "accredited" designation. Although
stopping short of calling Shaftesbury a diploma mill, Thompson said
that as far as his research could determine, Shaftesbury has no
campus, just an office.
Brian Aston, attorney for Shal, asked when Thompson researched
Shaftesbury University. Thompson replied he had checked the
university's status in December, at the request of the Attorney
General's Office.
Don A. Wojtowich, an investigator with the Attorney General's Office,
testified that he contacted Shaftesbury on Thursday and said he wanted
a degree in criminology. He was told that it would cost $1,300 --
transcripts included, no class work required.
Roxanne Mongeluzzo, co-owner of Connellsville Counseling, testified
that she was involved in Shal's hiring and that prior to a state audit
in 2002, requested copies of diplomas from all the company's
employees. Mongeluzzo said that she did not call Shaftesbury
University to verify the diploma.
The diploma contains two misspellings.
Baxter, the prosecutor, asked Mongeluzzo if she would have hired him
if she'd had information that his degree was invalid.
"I couldn't have," she replied.
Regarding Shal allegedly treating more than one child at a time in
violation of state regulations, Mongeluzzo replied that she had never
seen billing for more than one child at a time.
On questioning by Shal's attorney, Mongeluzzo testified that some of
the children had problems with socialization and anger management and
that bowling could have been therapeutic. Shal did not diagnose or
write treatment plans for the children.
She said the bowling league was "an incentive to cooperate with their
treatment plan" and that a newspaper article praising the league "made
them proud." It also alerted officials to the possibility that Shal
was breaking the law by treating more than one child at a time.
Baxter asked if Mongeluzzo was aware that Shal was submitting bills
for times that the children were bowling.
"No," she replied.
Phil Dorazio, director of Alliance Health Wraparound -- where Shal
worked from Feb. 25 to Sept. 26, 2003 -- testified that he had hired
Shal based on his more than three years' experience at Connellsville
Counseling. He said having a diploma -- or 60 credits of work toward a
diploma -- remains a state requirement for technical support staff.
Baxter asked if Dorazio would have hired Shal if he had known Shal's
diploma was not valid.
"No," he replied.
The audit of Alliance Health's records by Wojtowich, of the Attorney
General's Office, did not indicate that Shal ever treated two children
at once and billed for dual services while employed there.
Aston argued that his client is innocent of fraud because
Connellsville Counseling chose to bill Value Behavioral Health for
Shal's services. The attorney said although Shal's positions did
require a bachelor's, the degree did not have to be "from an
accredited or recognized university, just a bachelor's degree."
He said the state failed to demonstrate that Shal "had a guilty mind
at the time he submitted the diploma."
Baxter's argument, with which Haggerty agreed, was that the state had
made a prima facie argument.
"Actions can lead an unknowing party to commission of a crime," he
said. "He caused the fraud to be committed."
Regarding the diploma, "the Department of Public Welfare and common
sense indicate that one cannot purchase a diploma and expect to get a
job."