Township recovers $1 million of embezzled funds

Kennett Township has received $1 million from the surety bond covering former township manager Lisa Moore, who allegedly embezzled millions of dollars in taxpayer funds over a period of seven years, a crime that is one of the largest examples of public corruption in Chester County.

“We’re not going to back down on this bone,” said Scudder Stevens, Kennett Township supervisor in a virtual meeting Wednesday night. “We are aggressive dogs when it comes to hanging on to this bone.”

Moore, 46, whose current address is listed as Dewey Beach,

Del., remains free on $500,000 unsecured bail in the case. She faces more than 130 counts of theft, forgery, tampering with public records, receiving stolen property, and dealing in the proceeds of unlawful acts.

“The township is pursuing every avenue to recover all of the money improperly taken from our residents by Lisa Moore,” said Supervisors’

Chairman Dr. Richard L. Leff. “We are aggressively pursuing additional methods of recovery with our team of loss recovery professionals.”

Supervisor Whitney Hoffman said the payment will have no impact on the township’s insurance rates.

In December, the Chester County District Attorney’s office arrested and charged Moore with 21 crimes for embezzling $3.24 million from the township. The District Attorney’s office stated the money was stolen from employee benefits,

the police department, land preservation and other township operations. Moore used the money for extravagant personal expenses, including foreign trips, jewelry and designer clothes, according to the District Attorney.

Moore allegedly used a variety of methods to steal the money, according to the criminal complaint filed by Chester County Detective Robert Balchunis Jr.

Those included unauthorized payroll expenditures, payments to personal credit cards, personal use of

a township credit card, and unauthorized payments to an E-Trade account the township had set up for her retirement. Part of her scheme even included pretending to be married to claim spousal benefits, the account stated. She allegedly racked up purchases of approximately $696,000 on the township’s credit card issued in her name.

Last year, the township recovered $80,000 of the money, and supervisors said they won’t rest until they recover most of the embezzled funds.