A written complaint filed with the U.S. Postal Service alleges the treasurer of the PTA Council of Baltimore County impersonated another former PTA council member to commit mail theft, a federal offense.
Roxanne Umphrey Lucas, of Owings Mills, alleges that treasurer Lisa Franklin, of Randallstown, posed as Lucas at the Owings Mills Post Office and unlawfully retrieved her mail.
Lucas is not yet aware of any significant financial loss due to the alleged mail theft, but said she previously had asked the Internal Revenue Service to trace last year?s refund check, which she did not receive.
In a related matter, on March 1, Lisa Franklin?s husband, Michael Franklin, was ordered to pay court costs and $742.63 in restitution to Lucas after Baltimore County police charged him with malicious destruction of property following an incident in which Lucas? tires were slashed in front of her home.
Michael Franklin, who received probation before judgment and was placed on one year of unsupervised probation after making a check out to Lucas in court, also had been charged with making arson threats.
The state?s attorney, which had surveillance-tape evidence of the tire slashing, did not prosecute the arson threat charges.
“We had phone records of him calling the house at 11:34 p.m., butI couldn?t record the conversation; it?s against the law,” said Lucas, who in January was granted a temporary peace order against Michael Franklin. “The judge told him he is to stay away from me, my family and our property for the rest of his life, and that?s what I really wanted.”
Baltimore County Police Department spokesman Michael Hill said the U.S. Postal Service has a surveillance tape of the alleged mail theft in its possession and has begun an investigation.
Last May, an investigation by The Examiner found Michael and Lisa Franklin have had several complaints ? civil and criminal ? filed against them in the past decade.
In 1996, Lisa Franklin was charged with passing a bad check, though the case was not prosecuted.
In 1997, a $1,586 judgment against the Franklins was awarded to Novus Services of Hilliard, Ohio.
In 2001, a judgment of $1,436 was awarded to Carrolltown Bank against Lisa Franklin, and in 2002, the Pikeswood Village Homeowners Association won a $987 judgment against the couple.
In a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 25, 2002, Lisa Franklin accused her husband of domestic violence, but the case was not pursued.
Lisa Franklin denied the allegations of mail theft in January when the claims were first made. The PTA Council of Baltimore County President Sue Katz would not comment.
