Former Latrobe Mayor Thomas Marflak is free on his own recognizance, pending a preliminary hearing on charges that he paid his wife's credit card bills with more than $60,000 siphoned from a hotel he managed for about nine years.

Mr. Marflak, 40, faces a preliminary hearing at 1:15 p.m. Oct. 4 before District Judge Michael R. Mahady in Latrobe.

He is charged with theft by unlawful taking.

A police affidavit, used by Westmoreland County detectives to make the arrest Thursday, said the thefts became apparent as accountants for Liprando Development Co. prepared for a recent sales tax audit.

The company owns the Wingate Inn in Unity.

The accountant, Jeff Anzovino, said he discovered $68,937 in checks were written from the inn's accounts to pay credit card bills for Mr. Marflak's wife, Amy Marflak, 38.

Mrs. Marflak has not been charged.

The thefts occurred between April 2007 and November 2009, according to the affidavit.

Mr. Marflak served one term as mayor in Latrobe following his election in 2005.

Mr. Marflak's attorney, Scott Avolio, denies the charges, saying the money was reimbursement for business expenses Mr. Marflak incurred during the period cited in the criminal complaint.

He left the Wingate Inn in 2009 and became owner of the Inn at Mountainview in Unity.

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