Ex-school treasurer guilty of stealing nearly $90k

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) – The former treasurer of an Ohio School district is now a convicted felon after pleading guilty to using a district credit card to buy clothing, tickets to events and household goods.

Elizabeth McCarthy, former treasurer of the Northern Local Schools in Thornville, received a suspended prison sentence of 10 months and was ordered to pay restitution of $89,418, according to a news release by the Ohio State Auditor’s office, which began an investigation in late 2024 after a new treasurer spotted suspicious purchases by McCarthy.

The auditor’s office “identified personal purchases made by McCarthy using the district credit card in stores and online for clothing, event tickets, household goods and other items that were not for district use,” the news release said.

McCarthy has paid the restitution, which included repayment for the improper items charged to the credit card along with audit costs and other expenses.

Her guilty plea to a charge of theft in office makes McCarthy ineligible for public employment in the future, according to the news release.

The school district in 2024 announced that McCarthy was retiring after 26 years of service.

Since 2019, the Ohio auditor’s office has 71 convictions of public officials for “theft in office,” spokesman David Roorbach told The Center Square.

“While theft in office is rare, it does happen and typically in entities where internal controls are weak or nonexistent,” he said.