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“Another banker arrested,” read the bold front-page headline atop the Feb. 8, 1952 edition of the Pittsburgh Press.
The Press reported that there had been a “wave” of bank embezzlements in the region within the past year and a half that reached a total of $3.5 million.
Those were the statistics that comprised the sidebar that day.
The main story had a troubling Fayette County implication: “All $157,177 Paid Back at Point Marion,” said that headline.
“Milo K. Ruse, former president of the First National Bank of Point Marion, Pa., was arrested by the FBI on a charge of embezzling $152,177,” it was reported.
Ruse had been a longtime resident of Fayette County with a spotless reputation. The 52 year-old banker had, according to the report, been the valedictorian and class president of his 1917 graduating class at Point Marion High School.
But it was also reported that day that he was charged with taking bank funds and using them to buy AT&T stock in his own name, despite making a false entry in bank records that the money was used to buy U.S. government bonds.
“He eventually sold the stock at a $425 loss but pocketed $2,250 in dividends,” said the story.
According to a report in the Uniontown Evening Standard that day, Ruse “reimbursed the bank in full” for the misappropriated money. But that he also admitted that he’d also embezzled $2,177.95 from the checking account of one of the bank’s depositors.
Ruse had recently moved from Point Marion to Uniontown, and he and his wife were quite active in community affairs, as a highly respected couple.
That fact was apparent by the extensive coverage the Pittsburgh Press gave to the story the following day.
“Banker Wrecked His Empire for $4,000,” read the headline on the front page.
That story was accompanied by two large pictures of Ruse’s “Mansion fit for a banker,” in Uniontown, and a picture of the house that represented “A humble start” for Ruse on Morgantown Street in Point Marion.
Ruse was free on $20,000 bond, and there was speculation in the Press why he “had driven himself 52 years to build a fortune, (but) let his whole small town empire crumble for a profit of less than $4,000.”
The Press dug deeply into Ruse’s biography and reported that his real name had been Milo Kelmer, and that he’d really been brought up on Butler Street in Pittsburgh.
And that when his father died, he had been adopted by the Ruse family which ran a flour mill in Point Marion.
It didn’t take long before, “He more or less took the little community by storm.”
He’d become a civic leader, and a regular at Uniontown Country Club, where, as the Press reported, “He got good enough to shoot consistently in the 70s.”
On Feb. 11, the Evening Standard reported that “Ruse Remains Cheerful Despite Serious Charges,” according to the front-page headline.
“He visited Point Marion on Saturday and maintained the same cheerful demeanor he has shown throughout the past two weeks,” it was reported.
“Milo Ruse Indicted For Juggling Funds of Bank,” it was reported on the front page of the Evening Standard on Dec.1, 1952.
“Ruse faces three charges of illegally abstracting money from the bank, five of embezzlement, one of misapplication of funds, and one of false entry in the bank’s books,” it was reported.
The indictment also included charges that when Ruse was the borough secretary of Point Marion, he made off with $500 from the street improvement fund, and $1,235 in two installments from the parking meter fund.
“Banker Pleads No Contest to Three Counts,” said the headline on the front page of the Evening Standard on Sept. 2, 1953.
It was reported that seven of ten charges had been dismissed against Ruse. And that he had entered a plea of “no contest” against the remaining three.
It was also reported that he was expected to face a heavy prison term and fines.
“Point Marion Banker Placed on Probation,” was a headline that appeared on the front page of the Sept. 16, 1953 edition of the Evening Standard.
After a U.S. District Court judge conducted a six-hour sentencing hearing, in which “a long list of character witnesses, most of them well-known Uniontown businessmen, appeared in court in Ruse’s behalf,” he gave Ruse a three-year suspended sentence and placed him on probation.
Yet, Ruse’s entanglements with the law didn’t end that day.
Despite his name no longer appearing on front pages, and once again, returning to the society and sports pages, there was some controversy.
The fact that Ruse’s friends had taken over ‘strategic positions’ at First National Bank of Point Marion, and that his trial attorney, Robert Jarvis, had been installed as the bank’s president, raised some eyebrows.
But there was more.
During the fall of 1957, Ruse went on trial for and was convicted of income tax evasion.
On April 11, 1958, it was reported that the Federal District Court judge had to postpone Ruse’s sentencing because he was suffering from an illness.
“Milo Ruse Dies at 58,” read the front page, Evening Standard headline on October 10th, 1958.
He had died at home at 8:30 the previous night.
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