Former chief of city police pleads guilty in federal case

Pittsburgh’s former chief of police pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy and tax evasion Friday.

Nathan Harper, 60, resigned as the chief of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police last February in the midst of a federal investigation into the department’s financial records.

In March, federal authorities charged Harper with diverting $70,628.92 that private businesses paid to his department’s Special Events Office for protection from off-duty police officers into unauthorized accounts, according to a statement from the office of David Hickton, U.S. attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania. Harper is charged with taking more than $31,000 from these accounts for personal use.

The funds Harper is charged with placing in unauthorized accounts include a $5,675.52 payment that Pitt made in September of 2009.

Last March, Robert Hill, who was a spokesman for Pitt at the time, said that the University gave the payment to the city police in exchange for protectiing its mobile science laboratory, a tractor trailer that visits sites off campus.

Although Harper is charged with conspiracy, federal investigators have not charged anyone else in connection with the case involving him to date.

“This case is about greed and the theft of taxpayer money for private gain,” Hickton said. “Public officials, especially those who serve in law enforcement, have a responsibility to make governmental decisions in the best interests of the citizens, not themselves.”

Robert Leight, who is serving as Harper’s defense counsel, was not available for comment Friday.

Harper is also charged with failing to file tax returns from 2008 to 2011. During those two years, Harper should have paid $22,427 in taxes.

According to the statement from the U.S. Attorneys’ Office, these charges carry a maximum sentence of nine years, a $650,000 fine or both. 

Harper entered his plea before U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon, and is currently out on bond. Bissoon has set Harper’s sentencing hearing for Feb. 25.