The former Harmony Township secretary charged with stealing more than $190,000 has been sentenced to house arrest and ordered to pay back the money.
Lyla Swan, 58, of Elmer Street, pleaded no contest to a felony count of theft.
According to the Times, she was sentenced Thursday by Beaver County Judge John P. Dohanich to one year of house arrest on electronic monitoring and an additional six years supervision.
Swan was a township employee for 30 years, mostly as secretary, with duties that made her responsible for collecting and check and cash payments and making bank deposits.
After her departure in 2014, township officials determined cash totaling $190,020.63 was missing from four township accounts—the general fund, the sewer fund, the sewer construction fund, and petty cash, according to a criminal complaint.
Township police contacted Beaver County detectives for an investigation. The majority of the missing funds, $150,000, were from the sewer fund, where discrepancies showed cash payments were not documented.
Swan deposited checks, but took the cash payments, failing to deposit $20,251.24 in garbage collection fees; $10,694.39 in petty cash; and $150,000 in cash payments for sewer fees between January 2006 and July 2013, according to a criminal complaint.
Swan also failed to deposit $9,075 in required payments for sewer tap-in fees from March 2007 to August 2007, according to court documents.
Her attorney, Kenneth Fawcett, asked the judge to consider house arrest for Swan instead of a jail term because the Times reports she has numerous serious health conditions, including lupus, back problems and had previously undergone treatment for bladder cancer that is now in remission. The judge asked Swan if she wanted to say anything, and she said she did not.
According to the Times, she was sentenced Thursday by Beaver County Judge John P. Dohanich to one year of house arrest on electronic monitoring and an additional six years supervision.
Swan was a township employee for 30 years, mostly as secretary, with duties that made her responsible for collecting and check and cash payments and making bank deposits.
After her departure in 2014, township officials determined cash totaling $190,020.63 was missing from four township accounts—the general fund, the sewer fund, the sewer construction fund, and petty cash, according to a criminal complaint.
Township police contacted Beaver County detectives for an investigation. The majority of the missing funds, $150,000, were from the sewer fund, where discrepancies showed cash payments were not documented.
Swan deposited checks, but took the cash payments, failing to deposit $20,251.24 in garbage collection fees; $10,694.39 in petty cash; and $150,000 in cash payments for sewer fees between January 2006 and July 2013, according to a criminal complaint.
Swan also failed to deposit $9,075 in required payments for sewer tap-in fees from March 2007 to August 2007, according to court documents.
Her attorney, Kenneth Fawcett, asked the judge to consider house arrest for Swan instead of a jail term because the Times reports she has numerous serious health conditions, including lupus, back problems and had previously undergone treatment for bladder cancer that is now in remission. The judge asked Swan if she wanted to say anything, and she said she did not.
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