HOLLIDAYSBURG — A former Altoona police sergeant is facing jail time and hefty fines based on a Blair County jury’s decision to convict him on six of nine felony offenses.

The jury took about 3.5 hours Wednesday to deliberate charges filed against Matthew S. Starr, 41, Altoona, a longtime police officer who was suspended in February 2017 when theft allegations and overtime questions surfaced. Four months later, he was fired.

Starr’s most serious conviction — dealing in proceeds from an illegal act — is a first-degree felony carrying punishment of incarceration and a minimum $100,000 fine.

The charge was based on a transaction Starr arranged so the city of Altoona could devote grant funds to purchasing a firearms training system from Outdoor City Guns.

Starr, at the time, owned a system he bought for $1,290. But as a city employee, he was prohibited from selling it to the his employer.

He instead arranged for Outdoor City Guns to accept the city’s check for $7,654 and pocketed the proceeds minus a $200 fee that Outdoor City retained.

In addition, Starr was convicted of five third-degree felonies including deceptive business practices, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, criminal attempt at theft by deception and theft by failing to make the required disposition of funds.

The jury acquitted Starr of three third-degree felonies. One accused him of tampering with public records based on the alleged submission of false overtime reports.

The other two theft by deception offenses developed from his alleged submission of inaccurate work hours and the alleged submission of false information about the firearms training system.

The jury’s rulings were rendered after two days of testimony focused on the former lawman’s fundraising efforts, overtime hours, gambling habits and his side business in tactical equipment sales.

Senior Judge Stewart Kurtz, who presided over the trial, announced April 23 as Starr’s sentencing date.

The judge also acknowledged that Starr could remain free on $250,000 unsecured bail until then. Shortly after that an­nouncement, Starr got up from the defense table and walked out of the courtroom.

The defendant looked straight ahead and said nothing to family members, including his father, Pete Starr, a former Altoona police chief, who sat behind him during the three-day trial.

“He was emotional,” defense attorney Robert Donaldson of Holliday­sburg said later.

Donaldson will be filing appeals, he said, in hope of getting Starr a new trial.

Before closing arguments were offered on Wednesday morning, Donaldson asked Kurtz to consider a mistrial because of the judge’s questions and comments during Starr testimony on Tuesday.

Kurtz, while listening to Starr, at one point asked for confirmation that he (Starr) was saying that he picked up a donation in the form of a check, deposited the check into his account and then on the same day went to Rocky Gap Casino. Starr said that was correct.

During cross-examination, Deputy Attorney General Megan Madarffi asked Starr about a lack of receipts for some or arson-investigation items found inside the police vehicle he was assigned. After Starr attempted to answer, Kurtz joined in the questioning and asked Starr why he hadn’t brought such receipts into court.

Starr told the judge no one directed him to do that.

“Didn’t you think they would be important?” Kurtz asked rhetorically.

Madaffari, after the trial, credited the guilty verdicts to a case that was “was investigated very well” and reflected “a team effort.”

State police at Hollidaysburg initiated the investigation in February 2017 after Altoona Police Chief Janice Freehling learned that Starr deposited three checks into his bank account which were believed to have been written to benefit the police department. Altoona police also turned over payroll records and other city records.

With help from the FBI, state police investigators learned that Starr was making regular trips to the Rocky Gap Casino in northern Maryland at times when his time reports indicated that he was supposed to be working.

Starr, who testified Tuesday in his own defense, indicated that he had flexibility to set his own hours and that he, like other officers, had options for use of compensatory time and to claim up to four hours of overtime for tasks lasting longer than 15 minutes.

Starr also told the jury he had cash at home to replace the money removed from his account while he was gambling at the casino.

“Gambling isn’t illegal,” Donaldson told the jury.

Madaffari asked the jury to look at Starr’s actions over a period of time, after he acquired his players card at the Rocky Gap Casino in July 2014 and began building up debt from gambling. It’s in 2015 and 2016 when the overtime issues develop, she said, and when he starts asking a fraternal club and local businesses for money to support equipment purchases.

“At that point, he was not a cop,” Madaffair told the jury in her closing. “He was a con man who was refusing to take responsibility.”

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.