LAWRENCE CO.—Missing funds from a local township have resulted in an investigation that is set to expand into the federal realm.
Officials have reported that a recent internal audit of the books for Lawrence Township showed a shortfall over the past two years of “just over $30,000” (the exact amount was unavailable as of press time and further audits are being conducted to determine exactly how much is missing and how far back it’s believed the actions that caused the money to disappear were taking place.)
At the center of the mess is former Township Supervisor Kimberly Yost-Winningham, 34, who was just re-elected to that position in April 2013.
Yost-Winningham resigned her position when she was confronted with the accusations, reportedly in early March, this according to township officials who spoke with Disclosure on the matter.
Greg Lewis, Township Clerk, was contacted because of persistent rumors abounding through Lawrenceville (wherein Lawrence Township sits) of a situation brewing “behind the scenes” which would result in no charges being filed at all: A compromise between Lawrence County State’s Attorney and Yost-Winningham’s attorney of choice, Daniel Shinkle of Lawrenceville, wherein she would pay the money back and if she did so in a timely manner, no charges would be filed. Being called a “gentleman’s agreement,” that set off many in the township who have watched other public officials over the years be charged for theft of public funds in their county (Max Schauf, Toni Hart, Cindy Crewell) with little done except a felony conviction on their record.
However, on April 2, Quick, when asked about the matter by Disclosure, advised that he didn’t foresee any such “gentleman’s agreement” coming out of it and didn’t know who could have forwarded that notion; he advised that because there hadn’t yet been any official report turned over to his office by any law enforcement agency (something he needs in order to follow through on prosecution), he hadn’t filed any charge.
On April 10, Lewis advised that information was being gathered, and the material was being turned over to Lawrence County Chief Deputy Trent Masterson, so that an official law enforcement complaint would indeed be filed in order for charges to be pursued.
When asked specifically which funds or accounts had been found to have money missing from them, Lewis advised that the township had four funds, and there were two over which Yost-Winningham as Township Supervisor had control.
The particular funds had to do with W2 tax forms…which may mean the matter could go to federal authorities for investigation.
In each previously-mentioned case (Schauf, Hart and Crewell), money involved in the respective thefts was money that was either coming in from the feds (in the form of grants or funding, such as Hart’s theft of funds from the Lawrence County Housing Authority) or was money that was due the feds.
What these funds specifically are involving other than possible tax money remains to be seen; Lewis said that the material is being reviewed by Dave Weger, a CPA in Lawrenceville. Yost-Winningham ran a highly competitive race to retain her seat in April of 2013 and won against challenger Becky Piper.
If the assessment of when the money went missing is accurate (over the past two years), Yost-Winningham might have been trying so hard to keep her seat so that no one would discover what she was allegedly doing at the time.
There has been no suggestion as to where the missing funds might have been diverted; however, sources involved in the investigation have advised that they are “gone,” and that any suggested “gentlemen’s agreement” wouldn’t have worked merely because there would be no way Yost-Winningham could have paid the total back within the statutory limit (two years).
This is just the latest blow to Lawrence Township: They have experienced the deaths of two trustees in the past six months and are attempting to replace them, and now the missing funds have caused not only a lot of financial issues for the township, but has taken up a lot of time that the officials could better spend on township matters for the residents and taxpayers.
“It’s a sad situation,” Lewis said, “but we’ll just have to wait and see what the investigation shows.”