The Westmoreland County job that wasn't, person poses as a park police officer, offers fake job
A job offer was made to an individual to work with the Westmoreland Park Police. The only problem is that there is no job and the person who was offering the job, didn't work for the county.
In describing Jillian Gearhart, Westmoreland County Park Police Chief Jeff Shearer said Gearhart, "Has never been employed by Westmoreland County in any facility whatsoever."
Shearer said that's what makes this case so odd.
According to the Chief, back in December, Gearhart acted as an HR representative with the county and interviewed David Stoots at the Mount Pleasant Walmart and then offered Stoots a job with the Westmoreland County Park Police.
Stoots was so excited about this new job, he gave his two weeks' notice at his current construction job.
Of course, Gearhart wasn't a real HR rep and there was no police job, but that didn't stop her from sending an offer letter to Stoots.
"It did not have the Westmoreland Park Police or the Westmoreland County letterhead on it," said Shearer. "But it did state how much he would be making, benefits, pension, all pending a drug test and background investigations."
When Stoots tried to follow up on the details of his upcoming job, he learned that Gearhart was not who she claimed to be. He rescinded his resignation from his construction job and eventually Mount Pleasant Police got involved and helped the Park Police arrest and charge Gearhart with two misdemeanor counts of harassment and impersonating a public servant.
Chief Shearer said that this was an isolated and rare incident, but he says, people should always be on the lookout for warning signs in situations like this.
"The interview that was held with this gentleman was at Walmart," said Shearer. "So, I would say that if anyone was ever to be interviewed by somebody that was not at the actual employment site where they were to be having the job, to be a little wary. But again, I do believe this to be a very isolated, one-time incident."
Now it is not apparent what Gearhart's motive may have been and she was not incarcerated for these alleged crimes. There is however a preliminary hearing slated in this case for this Thursday afternoon.
