A former township clerk in St. Joseph County is accused of using taxpayer money for her own purposes.
Sherri Houser was the clerk for Olive Township, located along the western end of the county and including New Carlisle.
The Indiana State Board of Accounts says Houser used taxpayer money to pay over $4,000 in personal checks. The board also says she overpaid herself by about $11,500 from 2014 to 2016.
As a township clerk, she was responsible for overseeing the finances for township projects like fire services and road maintenance. The South Bend Tribune reports she resigned in May 2017 once the audit by the state board started finding problems.
She reportedly told the newspaper she made an error in judgement. That error has now resulted in a Level 6 felony charge of forgery, which carries a six month to two and a half year prison term and upwards of $10,000 in fines.
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The Olive township shortage of funds, it would seem that maybe the township funds belong at the Saint Joseph county level. This makes how many problems there have been with the township employees using the public funds as a personal bank? In the past 6 years or so? We need to let our elected officials at state level know how we feel.