Uniontown mayor says city tightened oversight on city treasurer’s office
After former Uniontown treasurer Antoinette Hodge was convicted of stealing more than $100,000 of tax payments, Mayor Bill Gerke said changes to how the office does business will help to ensure a similar theft does not happen again.
“At city hall we stopped accepting cash payments, we only take checks or money orders now,” Gerke said. “And that is one of many things we’ve done to make sure something like this doesn’t happen down the road.”
On Thursday, Hodge was convicted of four felony counts for stealing $106,750 in cash tax payments between 2020 and 2021 while working as an elected city treasurer in Uniontown. Prosecutors said Hodge used the money for personal expenses including spending more than $1,500 per day on lottery games.
“The defendant was elected to a position of trust in her community. She abused that trust and defrauded taxpayers for her own gain,” state Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a release. “Prosecuting these crimes is vital to maintaining the integrity of local government.”
Gerke said changes to how the office operates were “a long time coming.”
“And it’s not just because of the Antoinnnete Hodge situation, but just to move along with the times,” he said.
One of the new policies requires more than one person to go to the bank when deposits are made.
“There’s just more sets of eyes as well,” Gerke said. “As I’ve always said, it’s just a way to get an honest man honest.”
The mayor said accountability is always a good thing, and the lack of oversight allowed for some things to “fall through the cracks.”
“We just want to keep everybody on board and have people remember their jobs are to serve the community. That’s what we’re here for, to serve the community and not be self-serving.”
Hodge will be sentenced on Nov. 21, and is scheduled for trial next month in another theft case. In that matter, she faces 33 counts of forgery for allegedly taking $112,484 from the Youghiogheny Western Baptist Association, which is a religious association with 27 individual churches across the region, including in Fayette and Greene counties.