Columbus - Former village fiscal officer Jackie Prine stole $37,081 of public money from the Village of Alger according to a special audit released today by Auditor of State Dave Yost. Prine pled guilty this week in the Hardin County Common Pleas Court to collecting but not depositing utility payments over a five-year period.

“We will not tolerate theft in public office,” Auditor Yost said. “Every last cent must be repaid to the citizens of the Village of Alger, and we provided village officials recommendations to help prevent this type of criminal activity from occurring again.”

According to the findings in the special audit, the former fiscal officer had the responsibility of collecting utility payments and depositing them in a timely fashion. A total of $37,081 of utility receipts were collected by Prine, but never deposited into the village’s bank account. Prine also falsely prepared receipts indicating that a $772 outstanding bill was paid, but this money was never deposited. Findings for recovery total $37,853.

Prine signed over $28,000 from her pension fund in the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System as partial restitution. Public employees’ retirement funds are subject to forfeiture for a theft in office conviction. Sentencing for Prine is scheduled for April 19, 2011.

The Village of Alger was placed in Fiscal Emergency on August 9, 2005.

A full copy of this Special Audit is available online.

The Auditor of State is one of five independently elected offices under the Ohio Constitution. Auditor Yost’s office is responsible for auditing over 5,600 state and local government agencies. Staff also works in partnership with state and local governments to deal effectively with financial, accounting and budgetary issues.

Contact:
Carrie Bartunek
Press Secretary
(614) 728-7198