Rebecca Jo Stump, 27, of Buffalo Street in Franklin, is facing felony charges of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and credit card fraud.
Trooper Ryan Wilson of the state police barracks at Clarion filed the charges with district judge Amy Long Turk, who set unsecured bail at $6,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled June 21.
Wilson said Stump made 93 unauthorized personal purchases totaling $6,031 using the borough credit card.
Stump admitted making the purchases, which were made online and at businesses at Clarion and Venango counties between April 1 and Nov. 30, 2015, Wilson said.
The borough hired Stump in December 2014 and she told them she was a graduate of Thiel College, was a notary public and had worked in the insurance industry.
Council voted at the time to give Stump access to the borough credit card.
Stump resigned her position in October 2015, saying she had found another job.
Shippenville Borough Council president Linda Duffee said Stump was coming in on a part-time basis to help out after her resignation.
Stump was going to go over the bills as usual, but Duffee said she decided to do it instead; that’s when she found the alleged unauthorized charges.
Duffee said it was obvious something was allegedly wrong when she saw a single month’s credit card bill exceeded $1,000.
The credit card was to be used only for emergencies – equipment parts or office supplies that were needed quickly – and the bill rarely exceeded $100.
Duffee then discovered Stump had allegedly been transferring funds electronically from the general account to the credit card account and providing only limited information to council.
“We never saw the breakdown,” Duffee said.
Council discussed the matter at its next work session and briefly considered working out the matter, but decided to contact police.
“We couldn’t do that (resolve privately) since it involved public funds,” she said.
The loss of the funds and the alleged deceptive bookkeeping has caused a lot of headaches for the borough.
“People don’t realize what a mess it makes when someone does something like this,” Duffee said.