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Bethel Park librarian not talking
Wednesday, March 03, 1999 By Laura Pace, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The soft-spoken, former fugitive Bethel Park librarian is as hushed as she would be in a library reading room.
Dorothy "Dot" Corbett is not answering questions about charges she stole money from the library, nor is she giving any clues as to why she recently visited Jacksonville, Fla.
"She's under orders not to talk," said husband Charles Corbett yesterday, as he briskly answered the front door of their suburban colonial-style home, then shut it just as quickly.
Someone dropping a teen-ager off at a neighbor's house yelled for a reporter to "leave her alone!" A large Labrador retriever was stationed near the front door of another neighbor's home.
Corbett, 57, faces a preliminary hearing April 1 before District Justice Susanne Kimberland, on charges she stole $27,500 in checks from a library account.
Corbett had been missing since Feb. 16, when she lied to co-workers about attending several meetings.
Bethel Park Detective Frank Marks took Corbett into custody at Pittsburgh International Airport when she returned from Florida at 5:16 p.m. Monday. Corbett had phoned her husband Sunday to say she wanted to come home.
Marks said he doesn't believe Corbett is a flight risk, since she turned herself in. She was arraigned Monday and released on $2,000 bond. Marks said he did not consider it a low bond. Police said they did not know the name of Corbett's attorney.
Library President Nick Fisfis said he believes the library's insurance policy has a bonding function that will ensure the library does not lose the missing money.
Bethel Park Police Chief Ed Felicetti said the municipality is patiently trying to deal with the influx of media and attention.
"I don't think any community wants to have negative publicity about their town or their people," Felicetti said. But, in a community of 35,000, "None of us are perfect."
Co-workers and colleagues, who were as baffled by her disappearance as they were by the accusations, said Corbett is a librarian to the core. No one seemed to know much about her personal life.
"She was great. She was a wonderful librarian," said Cynthia Richey, director of Mt. Lebanon Public Library. "I think practically her whole life was the library."
Fisfis said the library board is glad Corbett is home safe.
"The legal system will work it from here," he said. Her employment status with the library is yet to be determined.
Bethel Park Councilwoman Sue Hughes has known Corbett since the 1970s, through both women's involvement with the League of Women Voters and various community coalitions.
"She is very calm and helpful," said Pier Lee of the Peters Township Library, who said she spent time with Corbett at meetings of the Pennsylvania Library Association. "She always seemed under control, sensible."
Colette Berghardt, who worked with Corbett in the Bethel Park Library for 20 years, said Corbett put a lot of time into the library and was a talented children's librarian earlier in her career.
"She was always representing the library," Berghardt said, adding Corbett, who has been library directory for 16 years, would work a full day and return at night for meetings.
The auditing firm Maher Duessel is working with library auditors on a complete review of library records.
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