Former law library director pleads guilty to misuse of funds

The retired head of the Montgomery County law library pleaded guilty Wednesday to the illegal use of public funds and making unapproved purchases, according to a report by the Times Herald.

Bruce Piscadlo, 62, of Howell, N.J., has been charged with one felony count of theft by unlawful taking and one misdemeanor of misapplying entrusted government property. Montgomery County Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy will determine Piscadlo's sentence at a later date while he remains free on $20,000 bail, the Doylestown Intelligencer reports. He faces a maximum sentence of four and-a-half to nine years in prison.

Police originally arrested Piscadlo in August 2013 following an audit of the law library that revealed purchases for textbooks, coffee, electronics and other personal items made by Piscadlo, totaling more than $9,000 of county taxpayer money. According to affidavits, Piscadlo, who retired in 2012, gave the items to the law library employees to make up for the fact that he could not increase their salaries, the Times Herald reports.

After a pre-trial hearing in March 2014, Piscadlo told an Intelligencer reporter that he had been heavily drinking at the time of the thefts.