Ex Philly Employee Gets Prison For Defrauding City Of $150K

PHILADELPHIA — A former Philadelphia city employee was given prison time for stealing $150,000 from the city over several years.

Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams Wednesday said, Leo Dignam, 61, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, one year of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine for a scheme to defraud the city of about $150,000.

In November 2020, Dignam pleaded guilty to wire fraud and embezzlement from a program receiving federal funds.

At the time of the charged offenses, Dignam was an Assistant Managing Director in the City of Philadelphia Managing Director’s Office and before that was a long-time employee of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department, having risen through the ranks to serve as the Deputy Commissioner for Programs.

In these positions, he oversaw the administration of major events in the city, such as the Philadelphia Marathon, the Broad Street Run and the Mummers Parade.

Dignam worked for the City of Philadelphia for about 38 years.

Over the course of several years, from 2012 through 2019, Dignam misused two bank accounts he controlled on behalf of the city that existed to support the work of the parks and recreation department, namely, recreational activities for citizens. In particular, he opened a bank account purportedly to support the activities of parks department in connection with a non-profit organization, the Junior Baseball Federation. The federation partnered with the Philadelphia Phillies to raise most of its funds through the sale of tickets for Phillies games.

The defendant converted funds from this account to pay for personal expenses he incurred on a credit card associated with the federation account for purchases from retail stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, online retailers, and service providers.

Dignam also admitted to misusing another account that was created for the benefit of the parks department and the citizens of Philadelphia, the Program Advisory Fund Account.

Dignam used this account to pay personal expenses by transferring funds directly to a personal bank account, and by using it to pay personal expenses on a Verizon wireless account.

Leo’s brother, Paul Dignam, 58, also of Philadelphia and formerly the Regional Manager for the South Region of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, also pleaded guilty in November 2020 to charges of mail fraud and embezzlement from a program receiving federal funds in connection with similar misuse of public money, and will be sentenced next week.