www.ydr.com – A former Dillsburg-area golf course manager must spend nearly a year in county prison and pay restitution for embezzling more than $50,000 his former employer, ostensibly to pay his daughter’s heroin dealer.
Daryl Kiel Dissinger, 48, of 7520 Manor Drive in Harrisburg, pleaded guilty March 18 to one count of theft by deception, a third-degree felony.
On Monday, Common Pleas Judge Michael E. Bortner sentenced Dissinger to 11-1/2 to 23 months in county prison, with a consecutive four years of probation.
Dissinger was taken to prison immediately after the hearing.
The judge said he saw value in Dissinger staying in York County Prison, where he can continue to work as part of the prison’s outmate work-release program.
Restitution: That way, the judge noted, he’ll be able to make payments on his $52,441.76 restitution.
Bortner also ordered Dissinger to undergo a mental-health evaluation and comply with any recommendations that come from it.
Deputy prosecutor Jeff Rigby said that while the judge could have sent Dissinger to state prison for 18 months, an anti-recidivism program would have meant he was released after less than 14 months.
And he would have been unable to make significant payments toward restitution during that time, Rigby noted.
Harrisburg-based defense attorney Jenna Fliszar said her client took responsibility for his actions and didn’t contest the amount of restitution Range End Golf Club had requested.
Dissinger is currently holding down two jobs, she said. He’s managing a restaurant and owns his own landscaping business.
Extorted? During his guilty-plea hearing last month, Dissinger told Bortner a heroin dealer basically extorted the money from him.
“(He said) his daughter had become involved with heroin and because of that she’d gotten herself in some trouble,” Rigby said. “(Dissinger) said he tried to step into the situation and ended up making threats against the dealer.”
The dealer — who Dissinger said later died of a drug overdose — had apparently threatened to harm Dissinger’s daughter.
“Basically, he said he ended up being extorted. He was stealing to pay off the dealer,” said Rigby. “I’ll just say it’s the first time I’ve heard that (account).”
Fliszar confirmed her client maintains he needed the money because he felt his daughter was being threatened.
The background: While working for Range End Golf Club, 303 Golf Club Ave., Dissinger failed to deposit $52,441.76 of the club’s proceeds, according to court documents filed by Carroll Township Police.
Pete Ramsey, golf course superintendent, previously said the missing money didn’t affect operations.
According to Ramsey, Dissinger worked as the club’s food and beverage manager for about a year and a half, until Aug. 5, 2011.
On that day, after being questioned by Ramsey about the missing money, Dissinger left the club and never returned, according to court documents.
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