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Findings for recovery of more than $206,000 were issued Tuesday against the former fiscal officer for Mifflin Township in Richland County, who was earlier convicted on multiple counts of dereliction of duty, Auditor of State Keith Faber said.
Robyn Gast pleaded no contest in March 2022 to five misdemeanor counts in Mansfield Municipal Court after the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) determined she failed to pay the Township’s tax bills for multiple quarters between 2015 and 2019.
The eventual late payments resulted in penalties and interest of $203,581 to the Internal Revenue Service, $1,333 to the Ohio Department of Taxation, and $1,716 to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The total findings for recovery of $206,630, jointly and severally against Gast and her bonding company, were included in the audit of Mifflin Townships’ finances for 2020 and 2021. A copy of the report is available online through Audit Search.
Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 94 convictions resulting in more than $4.9 million in restitution (see SIU’s Map of 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).
Source: Ohio Auditor’s Office
