A former Schuylkill County official accused of stealing from his office to pay personal expenses has pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Stephen Lukach Jr. served as Schuylkill County’s Clerk of Courts from 1987-2014, when he resigned amid an FBI probe into financial impropriety by his office.

He was indicted last July by a federal grand jury. The indictment claimed that Lukach used unclaimed bail, restitution, and fees to pay personal expenses, including his own car payment and relatives’ credit cards.

Last week, Lukach, a Democrat, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of mail fraud and one count of falsifying records.

He now faces a maximum sentence 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Federal investigators learned of the case after county controller Christy D. Joy found irregularities during a 2014 audit of the clerk’s office.

Joy said on Friday that he is happy the case is coming toward an end.

“There was a lot of irregularities that you don’t want to see. He used public money to pay for his car payment, to pay for his lunches, to pay for his Christmas parties. And that’s just some of the stuff that’s very easy to understand. There were a lot of other schemes and they were a little more difficult to prove,” Joy said.

I’d like to thank the FBI and state police for pursuing this investigation, and the U.S. Attorney for finally bringing it toward an end,” he said.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors have agreed to drop all other charges against Lukach, including wire fraud and tampering with a witness, as well as other counts of mail fraud and falsifying records. Under the agreement, he cannot appeal his sentence.

Following Lukach’s guilty plea, the county’s retirement board moved to stop his $3,000 per month pension.

According to an indictment, Lukach was responsible for turning over unused bail and restitution money to the state.

He allegedly transferred some of those funds to accounts in his name, which he opened at banks around Schuylkill County. He was also accused of using money from an “automation fee,” which was meant to be spent on computers for his office.

Lukach allegedly used the funds for a number of personal expenses, including his own car and cellphone payments, and a family member’s credit card.

Prosecutors said Lukach stole, hid records from auditors, delayed producing other records, forged correspondence from third parties, and created fraudulent docket entries on the clerk’s computer system, which made it look like bail had been paid when it hadn’t.

The scheme sought to defraud bail posters, crime victims, the county, the clerk’s office, and the state, according to the indictment.

Joy said that when he took office in 2012, he assessed all of the county row offices if they had been recently audited.

“I was told that everything was up to date except the Clerk of Courts office, because it was too hard,” Joy said.

Joy said he hired Ashley Graver, a CPA from the Pa. Auditor General’s Office, to help look into the office’s financial records.

“It wasn’t too hard for Ashley,” Joy said.

Joy said that Lukach’s successor as clerk of courts, Maria Casey, has made significant changes to the office’s internal controls. They changed their depository bank, and all money that is deposited goes through the county treasurer’s office and is deposited by the sheriff.

Joy said that he was pleased to see the case come to an end nearly five years after Lukach resigned.

“I’d like to thank the FBI and state police for pursuing this investigation, and the U.S. attorney for finally bringing it toward an end.”