Ex-park service agent pleads guilty to theft

BAR HARBOR – A Bar Harbor woman who served as the national special agent in charge for the National Park Service faces up to six months in prison after pleading guilty in federal court recently to theft of public money.

Patricia Buccello, 55, entered a guilty plea to one count of theft of public money at a hearing on Oct. 31 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson, according to U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Inspector General Earl E. Devaney of the Department of the Interior.

In a press release, they announced that, during the plea hearing, Buccello admitted to fraudulently billing the government for all or a portion of the airfare associated with personal trips she took between Maine and Washington, D.C., from April 2005 through March 2007. As part of her plea, Buccello agreed to pay back the government a total of $10,864,95.

Contacted at her home in Bar Harbor on Tuesday, Buccello declined to comment on the charges or her plea.

Buccello has worked for the National Park Service since 1978, first as a park ranger and then as a criminal investigator. She served as acting national special agent in charge, or SAC, for 16 months before being named to the post in February 2005.

As the national SAC, Buccello’s duties included managing all of the finance accounts for the NPS special agents, including supervising regional SACs, who in turn were responsible for approximately 45 NPS special agents.

Buccello never worked at Acadia National Park near her home in Bar Harbor nor was she involved in any of the operations at the park, according to park Superintendent Sheridan Steele.

“Her responsibilities required her to travel around [the country] in connection with cases,” Steele said Tuesday. “But, as far as I know, she never had a case here in Acadia.”

Steele indicated Buccello had been a valued member of the island community and had a great career with the National Park Service.

“This is not a case where it’s all good or all bad,” he said Tuesday. “She has been an outstanding individual in the community and a longtime volunteer with the EMS on ambulance calls.”

The charges against Buccello stem in part from the traveling she did in connection with her position.

Among the complaints against her, an investigation by the Department of Interior and by the Office of Investigator General determined that Buccello failed to attend a ceremony honoring fallen NPS agents in Florida last March after she voluntarily gave up her seat on a scheduled flight in exchange for a free round-trip airline ticket. According to the U.S Attorney’s Office, Buccello had told supervisors that her connecting flight had been delayed and then canceled, according to the release. That incident and another involving Buccello’s failure to travel to St. Louis to deliver a fatality report to the widow of a fallen agent cost the government $2,649.30, according to the press release.

Further investigation also revealed that between April 2005 and March 2007, Buccello charged to the government all or a portion of the airfare associated with nine different personal trips between Maine and Washington, D.C. The blanket travel authorization granted to Buccello because of her position enabled her to charge personal travel costs to her government credit card without the approval and knowledge of her supervisors, according to the press release. The fraudulently billed airfare associated with the trips cost the NPS $4,265.21.

Buccello is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9. She faces up to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. As part of the plea, she agreed to reimburse the government for the costs resulting from her conduct, totaling $10,864.95. Buccello also agreed to resign from the National Park Service and not to seek law enforcement positions in the future.