Apr 11, 2026 By Garrett Neese 3 min read

Private personal data of current and former Bentleyville officials was part of a packet distributed to council and members of the public at the borough’s most recent council meeting.

The information — which included unredacted Social Security numbers, addresses, names, and driver’s license numbers — was part of an audit handed out by the finance committee during its report Tuesday.

Borough Solicitor Dennis Makel said the details had been listed in a banking statement that was erroneously left unredacted.

“It was inadvertent,” he said.

The names included eight officials: six former council members, the borough’s former secretary, and Police Chief Rich Young. Young’s attorney, Jeffrey Olup, said all eight had been listed as signatories.

Disclosing their records was a “palpable” violation of the Personal Protected Information Act, Olup said. He had yet to go through the packet to see if it included similar lists where the private information was left out.

“I can’t say that was intentional,” he said. “It was clearly stupid. But there’s a delineation between stupid and bad faith.”

The list also included former Mayor Tim Jansante, who said Friday he had referred the matter to the Attorney General’s office.

Roy Larimer, a former council member who was also named, said he and the others were discussing joint legal action. He said he believed it might have been part of a personal vendetta.

“It’s totally criminal,” he said, adding that it put them at risk for identity theft or other crimes.

Since the release was discovered, Makel said, some of the people who were in attendance had returned their packets.

“I don’t know how many, but we’ve gotten a good number of those back,” he said.

Even then, others said, the damage is irreversible. Olup was advised that 10 copies had been distributed to council, and another 29 to the general public.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “There was a breach of confidentiality right away.”

Borough Mayor Adrian Gordon said most of the council, including him, was not involved in preparing or distributing the packet. In a statement, he apologized to those whose information had been released to the public.

“With modern technology, cellphones, computers, etc., who can actually say how far it has already spread?” he said.

Olup said he would discuss the ramifications of the disclosure with Young. He had also requested Makel contact the state Attorney General’s office about the breach.

“I may do so myself,” he said.

Makel said Friday he was researching the law and reaching out to necessary agencies to do “whatever the law requires for compliance.”

“We’re contacting the appropriate agencies as we talk,” he said.