Trial delayed for former Uniontown treasurer accused of theft
The trial for the former Uniontown treasurer accused of stealing tax payments processed through her office and money from a regional church organization is being pushed back to November after she obtained new legal representation.
Antoinette Louise Hodge appeared Wednesday morning in Fayette County Court of Common Pleas to ask for a continuance after announcing she would be using the county’s public defender’s office for her two criminal cases.
Judge Mark Mehalov granted a 90-day delay and set her trial on numerous theft and forgery charges for the November court term. The delay will allow the public defender’s office time to review Hodge’s cases to mount a defense or discuss potential plea options with prosecutors.
Hodge, 55, was indicted by a statewide grand jury in December 2022 and accused of stealing $106,750 in tax payments between 2020 and 2021 while working as the elected city treasurer in Uniontown. Hodge is facing felony charges of theft, receiving stolen property and perjury, along with misdemeanor counts of misapplying government funds and obstructing the administration of law. The state Attorney General’s office is prosecuting that case.
Several months later, she was charged with allegedly taking $112,484 from the Youghiogheny Western Baptist Association, which is a religious association with 27 individual churches across the region, including in Fayette and Greene counties. State police said Hodge used her position as the board chairperson to oversee the association’s bank accounts and failed to pay bills or real estate taxes, which left the organization in financial distress.
She is facing 33 counts of forgery, along with three charges of theft and one count each of dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving stolen property and misapplication of entrusted property.
In both cases, investigators alleged she used the stolen funds for vacations, playing the lottery and gambling at casinos.
She is free on unsecured bond while awaiting trial in the two cases.
Hodge ran for reelection in the Democratic primary in May 2023, but lost her party’s nomination to Francis Joby Palumbo, who went on to win the position as treasurer in the general election. Hodge left office when her term expired at the end of last year.