For Immediate Release:                                                      

July 8, 2021                                                               

Lack of Checks and Balances Leads to Findings for Recovery in Hamilton Township Audit

Columbus – Auditor of State Keith Faber’s Office released the 2018-2019 financial audit of Hamilton Township in Lawrence County. The audit included multiple findings for recovery and a conviction of a former fiscal officer based on a special audit and investigation conducted by the Special Investigations Unit.

“Checks and balances are essential in preventing this kind of abuse and fraud,” said Auditor Faber. “I hope the township can make it a priority to ensure reimbursements and payouts are accurate and legal.”

Mary Sue Robinson (Sue) served as Fiscal Officer for the Township for several years until resigning in

December 2012 when Terri Robinson (Terri), Sue’s daughter, stepped in to serve as Fiscal Officer through July 31, 2014. Sue again served as Fiscal Officer from August 1, 2014 through January 31, 2017.

During this period, the Fiscal Officer was responsible for making deposits, preparing checks for payment, posting transactions to the Township’s accounting system, reconciling bank statements and preparing meeting minutes. However, the Fiscal Officer did not provide copies of bank statements, reconciliations or meeting minutes to the Trustees for review at the monthly meetings.

For the period January 1, 2014 through January 31, 2017, the following fraudulent and/or unsupported expenditures were noted:

• On August 5, 2019, Terri Robinson confessed to writing 57 checks totaling $23,440 payable to either herself or her family members for work that had not been completed nor authorized by the Trustees and admitted to signing the Trustees’ names to the checks.
• An additional 37 checks totaling $5,864 were payable to either Sue Robinson, Terri Robinson or their family members in which no documentation was attached supporting the payment. Therefore, auditors were unable to determine whether the payments served a proper public purpose. Of this total, $641 was attributed to Terri Robinson and $5,223 was attributed to Sue Robinson.
• In August of 2014, one check totaling $2,500, made payable to Terri Robinson, was dated after she had resigned as Fiscal Officer the month before. While the check stub indicated it was for health insurance premium reimbursement, the documentation attached to the check stub included regular medical expenses (office visits, prescriptions, etc.) and Medicare federal tax withholdings, not health insurance premium payments.
• In December 2014, one check totaling $2,500, made payable to Sue Robinson supposedly for health insurance premium reimbursement, contained signatures in which the Trustees stated were not theirs. In addition, no documentation was included supporting the payment.
• In December 2015, Sue Robinson, Pat Robinson (Sue’s sister-in-law and a Township Trustee who passed away in 2017) and a second Township Trustee each cashed $4,200 checks, written by Sue

Robinson supposedly for “raises”. Upon learning the payment was not allowable, the Township

Trustee returned $4,200 in cash to Sue Robinson as witnessed by two other Township Trustees and a signed statement was prepared. Upon review of the Township’s bank statements from December

2015 through January 2017, there is no evidence the $4,200 in cash Sue Robinson received from the Township Trustee was ever deposited. Auditors were not able to identify if Sue Robinson or Pat Robinson returned the $4,200 they received.

• Finally, four other checks payable to either Sue or Pat Robinson were supposedly for health insurance premium reimbursements totaling $6,200 but did not include documentation supporting the payments and therefore, auditors were unable to determine if the payments served a proper public purpose.

On February 3, 2021, Terri Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of theft in office, a felony of the third degree, one count of theft in office, a felony of the fourth degree, one count of tampering with records, a felony of the third degree, and one count of forgery, a felony of the fourth degree and was sentenced in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court to four years community control, 400 hours community service and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,940.

Sue Robinson was scheduled for a plea hearing and sentencing on March 17, 2021, but passed away prior to the court date and the case was subsequently dismissed and closed.

A finding for recovery was issued against Terri Robinson and her bonding company, Western Surety Company, jointly and severally, in the amount of $26,581 and against Sue Robinson and her bonding company, The Cincinnati Insurance Company, jointly and severally, in the amount of $26,523, both in favor of the Township.

Prior to the audit release, Terri Robinson made payments toward her restitution totaling $18,400, leaving a finding for recovery balance of $8,181. The entire amount of Sue Robinson’s finding for recovery remains unpaid.

Additional Findings for Recovery - Repaid

The Fiscal Officer, Tony Hopper was reimbursed $1,552.80 for lodging and meals during a conference he attended in Columbus, Ohio on March 6 - March 8, 2019. The meal receipts included $51.75 for alcoholic beverages. The reimbursement check was signed by Trustees Bentley Kerns, Robert Blankenship, and Forrest Kerns Jr. along with Fiscal Officer Tony Hopper.

Alcoholic beverages are not considered a proper public purchase, therefore a finding for recovery was issued against Bentley Kerns, Robert Blankenship, Forrest Kerns Jr. and Tony Hopper in the amount of $51, in favor of Hamilton Township, General Fund. Tony Hopper is primarily liable and Bentley Kerns, Robert Blankenship, Forrest Kerns Jr. are secondarily jointly and severally liable.

Mr. Hooper repaid $51.75 for the alcoholic beverages on August 8, 2020.

For fiscal years 2014 and 2015, the following issues related to health insurance premium reimbursements were noted:

• In 2014, Trustee Forrest Kerns was reimbursed a gross amount of $2,500, but only provided support for premiums in the amount of $2,312, which resulted in an overpayment of $188.
• In 2014, Trustee Bob Blankenship was reimbursed a gross amount of $1,599, but only provided support for premiums in the amount of $900, which resulted in an overpayment of $699.
• In 2015, Trustee Bob Blankenship was reimbursed a gross amount of $1,200, but only provided support for premiums in the amount of $905, which resulted in an overpayment of $295.

A finding for recovery was issued against Forrest Kerns, in the amount of $188 and against Bob Blankenship, in the amount of $994, both in favor of the Township’s Gas Tax Fund.

On February 21, 2017, Forrest Kerns and Bob Blankenship repaid the findings in their entirety.

The audit also issued Material Weakness and Noncompliance findings.

A full copy of this report is available online.

###

The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 6,000 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.