New Castle Football Coach Charged

By: Bruce Markey
Saturday, November 5, 2011 | 1:35 AM

Current New Castle football coach Frank Bongivengo has been charged by state police in connection to misuse of funds from a youth football program. The charges were made public in a release by Attorney General Linda Kelly, following an investigation by state police.

The criminal complaint alleges five transactions were made from the New Castle Youth Football account to the personal account of Bongivengo and his wife Karen, who was also charged. Bongivengo and his wife took over control of the finances of the program in March of 2009. Police alleged over four month period that over 36 hundred dollars was misused, including purchases of airline tickets and transportation services.

The charges were filed after a 17-month investigation by police, this followed an Open Records request from a current school board member to the district, those records were forwarded to police by a third person, who is a current candidate for the city school board.

Both Bongivengo and his wife were charged with single counts of conspiracy, forgery, theft by unlawful taking and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds.

No statement was made by the New Castle school district and no word has come on Bongivengo’s future as the head coach at New Castle.