HANOVER TWP. — State police have filed felony charges against a former top executive of the Wyoming Valley Country Club, claiming he wrote checks to himself, stole from the petty cash fund and bought himself things with a club debit card no one knew about.

Randy Park, 39, the golf club's ex-general manager, faces felony counts of theft and receiving stolen property.

Arrest papers say club leaders accuse the Newport Township man of racking up "very substantial expenditures," but state police did not include a number in official documents. The charges only say the alleged theft exceeded $2,000, the threshold for a theft to be a felony.

"That, we can prove," said Lt. Richard Krawetz, crime unit commander for state police at Wyoming.

Krawetz said the country club hasn't sought a forensic audit that would reveal the exact total of missing money. From a law enforcement perspective, the exact number isn't necessary if there's enough to establish the number was more than $2,000 to make it a felony, Krawetz said.

"The only thing the exact amount would dictate would be restitution," Krawetz said. "It doesn't increase the grading of the crime."

Court records show that Park, 39, was arraigned on the charges last month by Magisterial District Judge Joseph Halesey and is free on $25,000 unsecured bail.

He did not return a telephone message on Friday. His attorney, Frank Nocito, declined to comment.

Krawetz said the investigation focused only on Park.

The private country club along Middle Road — which was chartered in 1896 and is the fifth oldest in the state — has about 500 dues-paying members. The club generated $2,493,755 in revenue in the fiscal year that ended in 2014, which was $165,564 less than expenses totaling $2,659,339, according to the organization's most recent IRS 990 form filed online.

Park was fired from his $80,000-per-year job on Jan. 23, 2015, months after an annual audit spotlighted financial irregularities, arrest papers say. He had been employed there since December 2012.

Club leaders approached state police in March 2015 about the alleged thefts and suspicious transactions, arrest papers say. They noted Park had obtained a country club debit card without anyone's approval or knowledge.

The criminal complaint details correspondence between Park and special counsel hired by the country club to handle the missing money issue. Park vowed to "make right with the club," but disputed the amount of restitution sought, the attorney told investigators.

The attorney told state police his review of the country's club financial records determined, "Park made or directed very substantial expenditures, which were undocumented, unauthorized, not for club purposes and which benefited Park."

He said he sent a letter to Park on Feb. 26, 2015, demanding a specified amount be paid within 10 days.

Park responded days later with a phone call, disputing the number demanded and "countered with a significantly lower estimate of what he believed he owed the club," arrest papers say.

The attorney said he then met with the Wyoming Valley Country Club Board of Governors and members were "universally displeased" with Park's offer.

In September, officials with the country club provided state police with financial records from January 2013 through December 2015.

State police wrote that they determined Park made more than $2,000 in unauthorized transactions by writing checks to himself, using the club's debit card, and dipping into the petty cash fund. He also didn't make his health care payments as required, they said.

Joseph Butcher, president of the country club's Board of Governors, did not return calls Friday. Vince Tasatano, who was board president at the time of the alleged thefts, declined comment and referred a reporter to local attorney Kim Borland.

"We have represented the country club, but we're not going to have any comment," Borland said.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal