Two former Penn Forest Township employees have not had their 2014 payroll deductions paid to the Social Security Administration, an issue they believe could be tracked back to a Lehighton man recently jailed for unlicensed broker activity and forgery.

Cindy Henning and Mary Ann Lewellyn said they worked for the township in 2014 when American Coast to Coast Business Solutions LLC was the municipality's payroll services provider.The company's president and owner, Al Sebia, was recently sentenced to seven months in jail and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution for selling worthless insurance policies.For Henning, the issue came to light when she didn't receive her 2015 tax refund after filing electronically on Feb. 8."After countless hours on the phone I received no answers or letter in the mail," Henning said. "This made me think maybe there was something wrong with my wages, so I checked my Social Security statement. I noticed in 2014 my income was not reported to the SSA, who told me my payroll deductions were also never paid."Henning contacted Erin Sebia, of American Coast to Coast, and was told the payroll deductions had been paid."When I asked for proof, she hung up on me," Henning said.There is a time limit for reporting Social Security earnings and getting credits toward future benefits. The time period is 3 years, 3 months and 15 days following the end of the calendar year in which a person earns the income.Her struggles led Henning to get Tim Nothstein, a detective with the Carbon County District Attorney's office, involved."I felt it was my obligation as a citizen and taxpayer to report this fraud," Henning said."I have included my attorney, William Vinsko, in this matter as I, the individual may be responsible for reimbursing the SSA for this income."Henning has also asked the township for assistance.Penn Forest secretary Susan Gibiser sent an email May 11 telling Henning she asked American Coast to Coast for verification of quarterly filings for 2014."As soon as this information is received, the township will review and provide the information requested," Gibiser said.The following day, she wrote Henning that, "if no information is obtained by early next week, the township (board of supervisors) will proceed with this matter by other means."The matter is by no means over, said Henning, who was terminated by the township in June 2014 and has a lawsuit pending against it in Carbon County Court." I still have to take a day from work to report to the SSA office in Hazleton, obtain my tax refund and probably go through a process with the Internal Revenue Service as well," she said."Also, I had requested the name of the auditing company for 2014 from the township and have not received that information. I pray it will allow someone to investigate this matter and the possible workers' compensation fraud."Lewellyn remains hopeful that the township takes the concerns of its former employees seriously."My concern is that the township was taking these deductions out of employees' pay as well as paying the employer portion and paying ACTC for this service, and it appears that ACTC was pocketing all of the money," she said. "Then when the fraud investigator contacted them to pursue action/charges, someone at the township said 'they weren't interested.'"These are employee and taxpayer dollars and by not protecting these dollars, the supervisors are derelict in the duties as elected officials possibly being subject to paying a surcharge for the loss of money."A phone call to a number listed for American Coast to Coast was not answered and the company's website is not working.The township also did not respond to several requests for an update.SebiaThe Northeastern Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Task Force, an arm of the Lackawanna County District Attorney's office, charged Al Sebia with one count of insurance fraud, 23 counts of forgery and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received for failing to provide workers' compensation insurance to Mac Sign Systems, 232 S. Sherman Ave., Scranton.Additional felony charges of insurance fraud, forgery and two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received were filed in December 2015.Sebia billed the company $7,112 for Workers' Compensation Insurance between July 15, 2014, through Dec. 27, 2014, but failed to provide coverage, forging 23 Acord certificates of insurance, which purported to provide workers' compensation insurance, when no such coverage existed, according to the Fraud Task Force.Sebia has been named in several insurance cases, including accusations of workers' compensation fraud via All Staffing Services, a Lansford business in which he was a co-owner.Sargent Enterprises Inc., of 732 Center St., Jim Thorpe, filed a civil complaint against Sebia.Among the allegations in the action is that the defendant invoiced the plaintiff for workers' compensation insurance but failed to make payment upon the workers' compensation insurance or payroll taxes; failed to pay the third quarter payroll taxes; fourth quarter also not paid; plaintiff notified a workers' compensation claim was made but plaintiff discovered that the workers' compensation insurance was likewise not paid.These issues were discovered in or around December 2014.Sought are damages in the amount of $36,998.37 together with interest and costs.