A hearing was held to help victims get their money back that was stolen from them by a former City of Lima employee.
Susan Barnett pleaded guilty to theft in office and communications fraud back in 2019. Records state that dating as far back as 1997, Barnett was stealing money that was due to defendants in garnishments and or bankruptcy cases, depositing it into her own accounts, and then falsifying records.
A total of 334,270 dollars was ordered to be paid in restitution to more than 1,100 victims. Ohio Auditor Keith Faber was on hand to see the victims of this fraud helped be made whole again.
"This is one of the good days as result of our team's effort in working with Treasurer Link, actually Clerk of Courts Link. What we did was help identify the amount that was spent and now we're going to be returning some of the stolen money back to the people who it was stolen from and so this is one of the number of days where they're actually going to issue return checks to the people who the money was stolen from," explained Ohio Auditor Keith Faber.
Multiple hearings will be held throughout the year, in order to provide restitution, and to also hear any matters that these victims may have in their cases.
