Haycock Township Supervisor Henry DePue at Monday night’s township meeting abruptly shut down public comments from residents questioning alleged insurance fraud by a township official.
Earlier at the meeting, DePue, presiding in the absence of Supervisor Chairman Michael Lennard, had announced the Bucks County District Attorney’s office had investigated the allegations and found no fraud. “Case closed,” he said.
This, despite the fact that Chris Bauer, now township secretary/treasurer, had placed his then-girlfriend, Kyle Marie DeMartyn, on the township’s medical insurance plan. The township policy specifies that only township employees, their spouses and children are eligible for coverage.
IBX records obtained by residents through a series of Right-to-Know requests show Bauer, employed by the township for 22 years, was listed as a single payee but added a second person in 2015 while he was working as Haycock’s roadmaster. Divorced, he removed his former wife’s name from the policy and replaced it with DeMartyn’s. She remained on the policy for eight years, costing the township about $75,000 in premiums.
DeMartyn lived in Harrisburg until 2021 when she moved to Haycock. The pair married in 2023 and she legally remains on the policy as Bauer’s wife.
Insurance documents provided to the Bucks County Herald show that in 2015 DeMartyn, then 43, was added to Bauer’s policy with a monthly premium of $625.68. Her premiums over the years climbed to $973.75 in 2023.
After the meeting, DePue did not dispute that taxpayers would have to cover the loss. He said the previous supervisors “should have known” about the insurance. He said the current board is now scrutinizing every penny.
Supervisor Linda Levinski said she had spent hours on the phone discussing the situation with the insurance company and noted, “The DA’s investigation showed absolutely no evidence of fraud. Neither did the insurance company.”
Bauer attended the meeting. When he was asked to comment he said, “I probably shouldn’t talk to you.”
During public comment at the end of the agenda, Kim Pacella, reading from a written statement, told the supervisors, “You can claim the D.A.’s office and the insurance company found no evidence of fraud. I spoke to the detective, (Timothy Campbell) and he told me one of the reasons they did not pursue it, was, and I quote, ‘The supervisors were okay with it.’ And I believe Susan (Barnes) was told the same thing by the insurance company. As a taxpayer I am not okay with it and neither should you be. It was fraud.”
A phone call to Campbell for confirmation was not returned.
“Chris stood here in this room on April 1 in front of a half dozen of us and said he knew it was wrong and he didn’t care,” Pacella continued. “As a taxpayer, I’m infuriated at the theft of taxpayer dollars.”
Pacella is the daughter of Kathleen Babb, a former supervisor who is worried about the township’s financial state. She and the fire chief have said they’re fearful the supervisors will have to renege on funds promised to the fire company.
“If the D.A. investigated the case, why didn’t they contact me?” asked Babb, who served on the board of supervisors for four decades until 2023.
Babb also said of her time as supervisor, “We were told insurance premiums were going up. That was happening everywhere. It never occurred to me to ask if he had put his girlfriend on the policy.”
Babb also said, “I worked directly with Nancy Yodis for years. She was a very decent, honest person. I never will believe she would have agreed to put a non-family member on the policy.”
Yodis, who died in 2016, was secretary/treasurer before Bauer.
Babb and Haycock Fire Chief and township auditor Henry Grim III, Henry Grim IV, Susan Barnes and others had filed the Right to Know requests.
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