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SPRING MILLS – More than half a million dollars in taxpayer funds are missing from a Centre County municipality, and local officials believe the money may have been embezzled.
A suspended employee “appears to have been involved in a series of transactions that resulted in large amounts of money being spent from township accounts,” an attorney on behalf of Gregg Township told the public Thursday. Officials said the employee may have used a credit card for the transactions in question.
An accountant hired by the township estimated the potential damage at $532,747.67, said attorney John Lhota of the law firm Miller, Kistler & Campbell, which is serving as the township’s attorney. The township had previously reported the amount was “well over hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The Pennsylvania State Police are conducting a criminal investigation, a spokesman told Spotlight PA in an email. He did not provide further details.
The employee, whom Spotlight PA is not naming because he has not been charged with a crime, has been suspended without pay.
During public comment, two residents questioned what protocols should have been in place.
Ben Haupt, township supervisor, said the board had not previously seen bank statements.
“We haven’t seen them. We haven’t seen any credit card statements,” Haupt said, adding that that has changed. “We see everything. OK?”
“More has been implemented than ever before,” said Supervisor Charles Stover. He did not, however, provide details of the township’s actions. Stover promised a full report for the public “as soon as we can.”
The board did not explain how it became aware of the possible misuse of the funds, but the township has held at least five special meetings so far this year to work on an employee handbook. On the agenda for the April special meeting was an addendum to the handbook that would require “copies of checks and bank statements to be provided to supervisors each month.”
Lhota said the municipality has a bond policy that can cover the losses. In the meantime, the municipality has hired one of its supervisors, Vicky Vanada, as secretary and treasurer.
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