Former clerk gets 10 days in jail for theft in office

LONDON — A former administrative assistant and utilities clerk in the village of Mount Sterling was sentenced Thursday to two years of community control, 10 days in jail and ordered to repay more than $20,000, after pleading guilty to theft in office last month.

Bonnie Liff, 59, spoke only a few hushed words, telling Madison County Common Pleas Court Judge Eamon Costello that she was sorry, before being taken away in handcuffs.

Last month, Liff pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree felony charge. The crime was discovered during a two-year investigation of former village administrator Joseph Johnson, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for stealing almost $1 million from the village.

Liff was indicted in April after investigators learned that she had cashed in more sick leave than she was permitted and more vacation time than she had accrued under village policy.

Liff could have been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Costello noted that she has no criminal history and little chance of recidivism. Still, he imposed a 10-day jail sentence to send a message.

“It has less to do with your recidivism and more to do with your position of trust,” Costello said.

“It has less to do with your recidivism and more to do with your position of trust.”

— Madison County Common Pleas Court Judge Eamon Costello, in regards to the sentence

Liff was fined $1,000, is required to repay $21,444 from her retirement savings account and is prohibited from ever holding public office or a position of trust.

Bob Smith, special prosecutor for the Ohio auditor’s office, said the village’s problems are far from over.

A special audit is pending of the village for the village, which currently is under fiscal emergency.

In addition, the state likely will impose findings for adjustment from the village’s general-revenue fund to pay for missing money in its capital-improvements fund, which former Mayor Charles Neff failed to fund for several years. Neff, 80, was convicted Wednesday of theft in office, falsification and dereliction of duty, and is to be sentenced Nov. 16.

The village “could potentially be dramatically more in deficit than it realizes,” Smith said.

Overall, he said, the scandal was “pretty staggering, a significant amount of harm and significant loss for a village of 1,700 people.”