VIENNA TWP., Ohio - Former Vienna Township Fiscal Officer Linda McCollough has received her sentencing after pleading guilty in June.

McCollough was sentenced to eight years in prison and must pay back more than $116,000 to the township and $11,000 to the state auditor's office.

She pled guilty to all charges against her including two counts of theft in office, one count of telecommunications fraud and seven counts of tampering with records.

Before learning her fate she admitted to misusing the money but also passed off some of the blame for the township's fiscal emergency.

"I hope that individuals responsible for scheduling and approving excessive overtime and expensive equipment purchases will step forward and take some responsibility for their part in the townships financial problems,” McCollough said. 

“Should we have stopped the overtime at a point? Yes," Trustee Phil Pegg said. "We were never informed when we reached that point due to the fact that she didn’t work with the trustees at all."

In court, it was stated that McCollough will repay $86,000 in the next few days and is forfeiting her state retirement fund of approximately $30,000. 

The charges are connected to taxpayer funds that were misappropriated when McCollough spent them on credit card payments for personal expenses. The payments were made to places like Spectrum, Walmart, Home Depot, Amazon and Tractor Supply. 

In all, it was found that McCullough had misappropriated a total of $116,370.82 worth of taxpayer funds between August 2021 and March 2024.

The judge said she made her decision because McCullough hadn't shown any remorse for her "emotional spending" and revealed when she was first approached by investigators about the accusations she stated “how can we make this go away.”

Trustee Pegg said all four thousand residents in the township were the victims in this case.

“[She has] no remorse, no real caring for the community,” Pegg said. “She took that money on her own, there was no asking. We had no idea it was gone until the bill stopped being paid.”

Pegg said the township will be filing a civil lawsuit against McCullough to pay back hundreds of thousand of more dollars for late fees accrued when the township bills weren't paid.

Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor, Charles Morrow, called this a continuous pattern not just a mistake when McCullough made 127 transfers over the course of several years.

"She had linked the Vienna Township bank account…to her own login…and therefore was able just to seamlessly electronically make the transfers from the Vienna Township account to pay her credit card accounts," Morrow said.

Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of up to 27 years in prison.