Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Former township fiscal officer Linda McCullough left, looks over documents with her attorney, J. Gerald Ingram, before pleading guilty to 10 charges stemming from her using township money to pay for personal bills. She served as fiscal officer from 2019 to early 2024, and she was accused of making 127 transactions from the township’s account to her own.

WARREN — Vienna residents packed the benches of the Trumbull County Common Pleas courtroom as their former fiscal officer entered a guilty plea — on the day her bench trial was set to begin.

Former fiscal officer Linda McCullough, who served as Vienna’s fiscal officer from 2019 to early 2024, pleaded guilty to all 10 charges against her, which included two counts of theft in office, one count of telecommunications fraud and seven counts of tampering with records. The charges stemmed from indictments in October 2024 and February of this year, which accused McCullough of using her elected position to pay personal credit card bills, as well as personal and private business expenses at several stores.

The value of the property or service stolen was $116,370, according to the February indictment. Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow said that, if the case had gone to trial, the state would have proven “beyond a reasonable doubt” the elements behind each charge. Morrow said the state planned to call Vienna Township Trustee Phil Pegg, and Richard Kridler and Carrie Yoder, both of the state auditor’s office, to testify that McCullough conducted 127 electronic transfers from the township’s checking account to five different credit cards from Aug. 6, 2021, through March 21, 2024, during her time as fiscal officer.

Morrow said all the cards were connected to McCullough, excluding one in her dad’s name. The transactions included transmissions via the Uniform Accounting Network (UAN), a program package that assists payroll, accounting and financial management activities for local governments.

“There were 35 transfers that were reported on the UAN system and the grand jury elected to indict on just seven, though the entire 127 transactions correspond with the dates from Aug. 6 of 2021, through March 21 of 2023,” Morrow said. “These transactions would have occurred at Ms. McCullough’s house or the business located in Vienna Township.”

Morrow said out of the transactions, they selected several from August 2021 to November 2023, plus a few others, to prove there was a continuing pattern and not a mistake. The prosecution planned to introduce bank records from Farmers National Bank, which would have reflected all 127 transactions to the credit cards.

“She had linked the Vienna Township checking account or bank account through Farmers to her own login and entity, which contained her credit cards, her financial records,” Morrow said. (She) was therefore able to seamlessly electronically make the transfers to pay her credit card accounts.”

Morrow said the state auditor’s office subpoenaed the credit card companies after reviewing the township’s records, which revealed the cards to be in McCullough’s name. The card numbers, paired with the UAN records, tied it all together, he said.

Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice asked McCullough what her plans for restitution were, and she said she had the money ready.

J. Gerald Ingram, McCullough’s attorney, said the $116,000 McCullough is expected to pay will be placed in his trust account — minus the $33,000 in her PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) account, which also will go toward restitution.

Rice asked Morrow whether the full $116,000 included the money from all of the possible counts on which McCullough could have been indicted. Morrow said the first three counts the grand jury selected covered all of the funds.

Morrow said a lock and a freeze were placed on McCullough’s PERS account, knowing that individuals engaged in similar offenses can forfeit their accounts.

Morrow said the investigation cost $16,000, which a statute allows the court to impose as part of the restitution and was something he and Ingram had discussed.

McCullough will undergo a presentence investigation and is set to be sentenced at 2 p.m. July 22, where she could face a maximum of three years on each count.

OFFICIAL REACTIONS

Pegg said Monday’s proceedings were a positive, but only the “beginning of the end.”

“It still hurts, her pleading guilty to every single count. Not everything was covered in the counts as they said they were; 100-plus counts that could have been filed,” he said. “How much is excessive? How much is enough?”

Pegg said people needed to know about the additional counts that were possible, adding there were other findings McCullough has to pay, such as $16,000 for audits that the township has paid for thus far.

“I have said, the other trustees have said, we did nothing wrong; the only thing I can say we did wrong was we trusted her,” Pegg said. “The way the system is set up — where the fiscal officer does not answer to the trustees, she answers to the state and the people — there’s not much we can do about it.”

Fiscal Officer Jason Miner, who was among the residents present, said the auditor of state and prosecutor’s office did an “excellent job,” deeming it a win for the township’s taxpayers.

“We’re relieved to see a guilty plea; now starts the process of getting our money back and recovering that stolen taxpayer money,” Miner said.

Trustee Mike Haddle said he hopes for an explanation for McCullough’s actions.

“I’d still like to see an allocution, which would be interesting; that’s where they put her on the stand and she talks about what she did, why she did it, she explains, everything like that,” Haddle said. “The other thing is, hopefully, Vienna Township can start to heal, and we can start to put this behind us and move forward to prevent it from happening again.”

IRS FINES

Officials said in December that McCullough is responsible for paying Social Security and IRS penalties and fines the township has incurred, because of a conflict with the Ohio Revised Code.

Miner said fines are at “well over $200,000” in IRS fines — between failure to make tax deposits and penalties and interest assessed on top of them.

He said the full number was yet to be determined, however.

Pegg said the township will have to file a civil suit against McCullough in the future, adding that they’ve been in talks with their attorneys.

“That’s their advice; wait until the criminal (case) is resolved, and we can use that to present in a civil trial,” Pegg said.