Twp Official In Chesco Stole $3M For Trips To Italy, France: DA

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — A now-fired township manager in Chester County used her position of authority to steal more than $3 million from the township for personal expenses, including trips to Europe, the District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday.

Lisa M. Moore, 46, had been an employee of Kennett Township for more than 20 years, and was considered a "trusted" individual, authorities said.

But after taking on the township manager job and it's $100,000 salary in 2010, Moore soon decided that it wasn't enough, the DA said. From 2013 through 2019, Moore abused the access granted to her by her position to embezzle a massive amount of money from the local government in a wide variety of ways, according to authorities.

She then used that money for separate trips to Las Vegas, Italy, France, clothes from Gucci and Chanel, a variety and jewelry, and more.

In many cases she simply paid herself for more hours than she'd worked, charging the township first for more than 3,000 hours a year, then bumping it up to 3,612 hours a year, the equivalent of a 10-hour work day every day for 365 days, the DA said. Her "salary" was boosted up to $295,000 using these methods, investigators found.

She also had checks paid to herself, using a stamp to forge the required signature of the township supervisor, the DA said.

Other schemes involved what authorities said was basically money laundering, transferring money from one township account to another, making the transaction appear legitimate, before secretly moving the money to her private account.

She later created fake documents from the township auditor to back up her transactions or to justify compensation she claimed she was owed due to sick time or vacation time, according to the DA.

Finally, using a township credit card, she racked up unauthorized purchases of nearly $700,000, according to authorities.

All told, Moore stole $3,249,453, police said. The crimes increased over time, something that investigators described as a hallmark of white collar criminals.

She's been charged with felony theft, forgery, computer crimes, and related counts. A preliminary hearing is forthcoming.