Ex-Corsica, Pa., official admits to fraud

A former trusted official in tiny Corsica, Pa., population 357, give or take, admitted Tuesday that she ripped off the little Jefferson County borough for $305,000 over the course of nearly a decade.

Tammy Laird, who had been the secretary and treasurer, pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh to 26 counts of wire fraud.

A grand jury had indicted Ms. Laird in 2018 following an investigation by the FBI.

The U.S. attorney’s office said that from 2009 until 2017 she issued checks from the borough’s bank account and the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment

Trust to herself, to her husband and to her dad.

She did it by forging the name of the council vice president on the checks, stealing a total of $256,000.

Ms. Laird also issued electronic payments from the borough accounts to pay another $21,000 to cover her personal bills from Sears, Verizon and her credit card.

Prosecutors said she stole another $27,000 by accessing the borough’s Staples account, which was supposed to be used for office supplies, to buy personal items such as a camera worth $1,300, a $500 airline gift card and a $229 iPad.

In ripping off the PLGIT account, which municipalities use for short-term investments, she got the council president to sign blank checks by telling him she was paying for borough expenses. Instead, she used the money for herself, spending $867 at Kay Jewelers and another $500 to pay a Sears bill.

Ms. Laird also obtained a $15,000 loan, lying to another member of borough council that it was for borough expenses, and then used the loan money for herself.

Throughout the long-running fraud, Ms. Laird concealed what she was doing by submitting fake bank records and board meeting notes to council members and state auditors.

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer said she would sentence Ms. Laird on May 28.