WARREN — Trumbull County Auditor Martha Yoder is reimbursing the county for the cost of the appeal in connection with the lawsuit involving her and the more than $80,000 lost by Bazetta Township when her office sent funds to an online scammer instead of the township’s bank.

Trumbull County Commissioners voted Wednesday to accept $607.82 for the reimbursement for expenses for legal services provided by Isaac, Wiles, Burkholder & Miller LLC for services provided from April 23-30 for the 11th District Court of Appeals case.

Prior to the court of appeals filing, Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Sarah Kovoor, in a mandamus ruling, stated Yoder’s office is required to provide the township $80,857.18 that was sent to Green Dot Bank. An employee in the auditor’s office was convinced that Bazetta had changed its bank from Huntington Bank to the web-based bank located in California.

Kovoor, in her ruling, outlined numerous instances in the communication between the auditor’s office and the cybercriminal scheme that should have raised red flags that the transfer should not have occurred.

“Judge Sarah Kovoor found in favor of Bazetta Township in their case against my office,” Yoder announced on Monday. “I made the decision to appeal this ruling to the 11th District Court of Appeals. I spoke with Attorney Bill Danso from the prosecutor’s office about the legality and logistics of personally funding the appeal. In preparation, I also liquidated some assets in order to have some funds on hand.”

She is donating the money to the auditor’s office as reimbursement as invoices from the law firm are received.

“The invoice containing the initial charges related to the appeal was received by my office on May 28,” she wrote. “It was paid last week and I have written a check, as a donation, to be used as a reimbursement for this payment.”

Bazetta trustees earlier this week noted the township has incurred $11,371 in legal fees and numerous administrative hours looking into and responding to public records requests.