Residents of the Ohio village of Ashley who made their utility payments each month had no way of knowing that some of it was allegedly being stolen by the former utility clerk.

According to the Ohio State Auditor’s office, the clerk stole more than $70,000 in utility payments between August 2022 and May 2024. She was recently indicted by a county grand jury on charges of theft in office, telecommunications fraud and tampering with records.

The state auditor’s office started investigating the case after finding “discrepancies” in utility bank deposits.

Since 2019, the auditor’s office has helped obtain 154 convictions and $16 million in restitution in fraud and theft cases.

It’s not unusual for local prosecutors to appoint a team from the state auditor’s office to handle the fraud cases, State Auditor Keith Faber told TCS.

“Our people are really good and that’s all they do,” Faber said. “Most prosecutors are worried about rapes and murders and they’re not doing financial crimes. We come in with resources, forensic auditors, which they just don’t have on their staff.”

Faber, an attorney, personally tried one case against the former director of head of the Allen County Regional Transit Authority who was charged with taking $27,000 from the agency to support a campaign for a tax levy that funded the agency. She was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Another form of common fraud is by private citizens who illegally obtain public benefits Faber said. The agencies that disperse those funds typically investigate that type of fraud.

“You want to minimize that fraud by having controls,” Faber said. “We go in and audit and make sure they have those controls in place, and also that nobody within the entities themselves are lying, cheating and stealing to get around the controls,” he said.

Fraud by government employees is actually rare, the auditor said.

“There are tens of thousands of Ohioans who touch government money in the daily course of their government jobs,” he said. “Very, very few of them are lying, stealing or cheating. The majority of government workers are good, honest hard-working people. Every so often, you get a bad apple, and that bad apple can spoil the bunch.”

Zero fraud is the goal, the auditor said.

“If you steal a penny and we can track it down, we are coming after you for it,” said Faber.