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COLUMBUS – An additional finding for recovery was issued Thursday against the former receipt clerk for the Village of South Bloomfield, who was convicted of stealing nearly $14,000 from the Pickaway County community, Auditor of State Keith Faber announced.

Kelly Neal was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to a felony count of grand theft, following an investigation by the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the law enforcement division of the office.

As receipt clerk, Neal was responsible for collecting payments for income taxes, mayor’s court fines, and planning and zoning permits, with separate receipt books, money bags and accounting systems for each. From 2010-2015, SIU determined she failed to deposit or otherwise illegally converted or misappropriated Village funds.

As part of her sentence, Neal paid restitution of $13,970. State auditors, however, identified additional funds collected but not accounted for during a review of the Village’s financial activities from Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2019. An audit released Thursday included an additional finding for recovery against Neal of $1,573 in missing funds. 

Auditors also identified other accounting and financial issues as part of the report and issued a qualified opinion after noting a lack of evidence supporting the cash fund balance reported on the Village’s financial statements.

A copy of the full report is available online at https://ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 108 convictions resulting in more than $5 million in restitution (see?Map of SIU Convictions?since January 2019). The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.

Public Affairs
Contact: Marc Kovac
press@ohioauditor.gov