Former Brave water authority treasurer pleads guilty to stealing $69k
WAYNESBURG – The former Brave Water and Sewer Authority secretary/treasuer pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing more than $69,000 from the authority.
Carolyn E. Hillberry, 56, of 121 Freedom Street, Brave, pleaded guilty before Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman to all charges against her, which included one count of theft and 116 counts of forgery.
Hillberry will be sentenced by Toothman following the preparation of a pre-sentence report. She remains free on unsecured bond.
Hillberry was charged last August after members of the authority board presented state police with an audit that indicated 116 checks were altered on three different authority accounts. The auditor stated alterations were made to the checks after they received the required signatures from two board members, according to the criminal complaint.
It was determined $69,790 had been stolen between January 2011 and August 2013.
Police said board members also presented them with handwritten letters Hillberry had given to them in which she admitted taking the money by altering the checks after receiving the proper signatures.
Problems with the authority came to light in August 2013 after Wayne Township filed a petition with the court asking it to order the authority to turn over its books for auditing. The petition noted that the authority’s sewage discharge permit had expired and the authority had failed to make monthly payments on a loan from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, also known as PENNVEST.
DEP confirmed in September 2013 that the authority’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit had expired earlier that year and the authority made no application to renew it. Hillberry resigned from her position on the authority’s board that same month.
The authority experienced problems because of the expired permit and lost money, although they had been resolved at the time charges were filed against Hillberry last August, a board member said then. The authority was current on payments on its PENNVEST loan and had received a new NPDES permit from DEP, he said.
The authority serves about 80 customers in Brave. It operates its own sewage treatment system and purchases treated water for distribution from the Morgantown Utility Board in West Virginia.