The following timeline of events relating to the criminal charges against former Kennett Township Manager Lisa Moore contains information from the Chester County District Attorney’s press release dated Dec. 10, a 43-page criminal complaint filed by county detectives, a Kennett Township press release dated Dec. 10, and Kennett Township Board of Supervisors’ meetings from April to December of 2019.

A number of executive sessions listed in this timeline are ones that were specifically mentioned by the township solicitor as being related to the former township manager. Other executive sessions that were announced since the investigation began were ones that dealt with personnel matters, although no additional specifics were announced. They are marked as such in the timeline.

Moore faces 115 felony counts. She is accused of stealing $3.2 million from Kennett Township.

June 1997

Kennett Township hires Lisa Moore “in a clerical capacity,” according to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Chester County Detectives.

1999

Kennett Township offers retirement plans through American Funds, according to the affidavit.

2005-2010

Moore opens four accounts with the online company E*Trade, according to the affidavit. E*Trade appears to have been used as an alternative to the township-sponsored retirement plan at American Funds, although, Balchunis wrote, “there is no indication on account profile documents that the accounts are a Kennett Township-sponsored ‘retirement plan,’ but rather personal/individual accounts opened directly by the defendant.”

2010

Jan. 13: Moore is named Kennett Township manager.

2011

September: Moore opens her personal Capital One checking account and later links it to accounts from Wells Fargo and BB&T, according to the affidavit.

2012

• Quickbooks accounting files prior to this year had been destroyed, according to the affidavit.

2013

• In this year, one of the township’s bank accounts was used to pay $56,388 to a Chase credit card account; $28,503 to Cardmember Services, and $29,3233 to American Express, according to the affidavit.
• In this year, the township loses $15,243 in authorized payroll, according to investigators in the affidavit.

2014

• The township’s loss for this year “attributable to amounts the defendant transferred from the Kennett Township bank accounts to E*Trade” is $5,508, according to the affidavit.
• In this year, the township loses $24,295 in unauthorized payroll, $126 in unauthorized use of the township credit card, and $6,508 in other unauthorized payments, according to investigators in the affidavit.
• January: Moore applies for health insurance through the township for her “husband,” Brian Gore, according to the affidavit.
• July: Fulton Bank issues a credit card to the township, with Moore as an authorized user.

July 2014-April 2019

Moore charges $696,053 on the township’s Fulton Bank credit card, according to the affidavit. Of that amount, more than $214,000 were allegedly for personal charges, including purchases from Michael Kors, Gucci, Saks, and Nordstrom; airfare for Moore, Brian Gore, and another person to places like Italy and Paris; food and fuel while traveling on personal business; and other purchases, according to county detective Robert J. Balchunis Jr.

2015

• The township’s loss for this year “attributable to amounts the defendant transferred from the Kennett Township bank accounts to E*Trade” is $17,811.94, according to the affidavit.
• Other losses include $34,892 in unauthorized payroll, $628 in unauthorized use of the township credit card, and $8,812 in other unauthorized payments, according to investigators in the affidavit.

2016

• The township’s loss for this year “attributable to amounts the defendant transferred from the Kennett Township bank accounts to E*Trade” is $124,256.60, according to the affidavit.
• Other losses this year include $211,235 in unauthorized payroll, $34,260 in personal credit card payments, $24,090 in unauthorized use of the township credit card, and $91,860 in other unauthorized payments, according to investigators in the affidavit.

January 2016-March 2019

• Moore allegedly uses township bank accounts to make $400,000 in deposits to her Capital One account, according to the affidavit. “Some Kennett Township checks paid to the defendant and deposited to her personal Capital One bank account were either not reflected in the Kennett Township accounting records or were inaccurately recorded as payments to other Kennett Township vendors, not the defendant,” according to the affidavit.
• According to detectives, Moore allegedly funneled township funds through her E*Trade accounts and into her Capital One checking account.
• During this time period, she allegedly used township money to pay more than $383,000 to her American Express credit card, more than $87,000 to her Elan/U.S. Bank credit card, and more than $42,000 to her Wells Fargo credit card, according to the affidavit.

2017

• The township’s loss for this year “attributable to amounts the defendant transferred from the Kennett Township bank accounts to E*Trade” is $321,566.76, according to the affidavit.
• Other losses this year include $354,500 in unauthorized payroll, $205,167 in personal credit card payments, $88,985 in unauthorized use of the township credit card, and $131,427 in other unauthorized payments, according to investigators in the affidavit.
• Moore “booked herself as working 3,612 hours, which equates to working roughly 10 hours per day for every single day of a 365-day year,” according to the district attorney’s press release.
• 5: Date of a letter on township letterhead to Barbacane Thornton & Co. from Moore about 2015 audit recommendations. The letter states, “As of Dec. 31, 2016, all accrued vacation, overtime, comp time, and sick time has been paid out,” according to the affidavit.

2018

• The township’s loss for this year “attributable to amounts the defendant transferred from the Kennett Township bank accounts to E*Trade” is $347,443.02, according to the affidavit.
• Other losses this year include $353,868 in unauthorized payroll, $241,184 in personal credit card payments, $89,533 in unauthorized use of the township credit card, and $133,739 in other unauthorized payments, according to investigators in the affidavit.

January-May 2019

• The township’s loss for this year “attributable to amounts the defendant transferred from the Kennett Township bank accounts to E*Trade” is $95,950.28, according to the affidavit.
• Other losses this year include $173,488 in unauthorized payroll, $67,086 in personal credit card payments, $10,670 in unauthorized use of the township credit card, and $35,320 in other unauthorized payments, according to investigators in the affidavit.

April 2019

• Following the discovery of the transactions, the three supervisors become the only authorized signers on all township bank accounts and also take on an active, day-to-day role in township operations.
• Moore allegedly creates documents showing the township owes her for “between 10,000 and 14,000 hours of ‘comp time,’” according to the affidavit.

April 2: Capital One Fraud Department contacts Kennett Supervisors’ Vice Chairman Richard Leff about money transfers from a township account to a personal account, according to the affidavit. “Capital One had received deposits from Supervisors of Kennett Township Consolidated Fund business checking account … on another person’s Capital One consumer checking account,” county detective Robert J. Balchunis Jr. wrote in the criminal complaint. “Capital One reported that the deposit activity on this account is unusual for a personal checking account and wanted to confirm that these funds were being used with the township supervisors’ knowledge and consent.”

April 3:

• This is the last supervisors’ meeting which Moore attends as the township manager.
• Leff reports the Capital One call to the Kennett Township police department, Balchunis wrote in the affidavit.
• Kennett Police let the supervisors and Moore know of “the ‘suspicious’ contact from someone identifying himself as a Capital One representative,” according to the affidavit.
• Moore allegedly changes the township’s accounting records 12 times this day “to show that certain checks paid to the defendant were payment for ‘comp’ time,” according to the affidavit.

April 5:

• Moore allegedly creates a document on letterhead from Umbreit, Korengal & Associates that lists her unused sick/vacation hours as 10,025 and her unpaid comp time as 3,128 hours, according to the affidavit.
• Moore allegedly creates a second document, also on Umbreit letterhead, that lists her unused sick/vacation hours as 3,128 and unpaid comp time as 14,218 hours, according to the affidavit. This document was changed on April 16.

April 9: Kennett Police met with the local Fulton Bank branch, whose manager said “a large sum of funds was being transferred to Capital One 3690 account… since early 2016,” according to the affidavit.

April 16: Moore allegedly changes the second document about the time she is owed, the affidavit alleges.

April 17: Moore is not present at the supervisors’ meeting this day, according to the board’s minutes.

April 24:

• Kennett Police meet with Fulton Bank’s fraud risk group manager about the bank’s concerns of the regular money transfers, according to the affidavit.
• Police are also directed to pick up copies of 61 checks from the local Fulton branch, Balchunis writes in his report.
• Kennett Police contact Chester County District Attorney, and Balchunis meets with Kennett Police.
• Balchunis and Kennett Police meet with supervisors’ Chairman Scudder Stevens about what was believed to be his signature on the checks, according to the affidavit.
• Moore is vacationing in France, according to detectives.

April 25:

• Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters related to the township manager, according to the township solicitor.
• This is the date that the supervisors say they were “notified by the fraud department of our bank that they had found a number of suspicious transactions on township accounts,” according to the May 10 letter sent out by the supervisors.

April 26:

• Chester County Detective Balchunis talks with representatives of Fulton Bank, who tell him that they confirmed with Capital One that it is Moore’s personal account “with at least the defendant as the account owner,” according to the affidavit.
• Fulton’s fraud representative tells county detectives she found additional funds transferred to the Capital One account and also to “an additional personal bank account held by Wells Fargo,” according to the affidavit.
• County detectives get a search warrant for Capital One that would show who the account holder was, according to the affidavit.

April 29:

• Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters related to the township manager, according to the township solicitor.
• Detective Balchunis gets a search warrant for Wells Fargo that would show who the account holder was, according to the affidavit.

April 30: Detective Balchunis receives the information from Capital One, which shows that Moore opened the account in 2011 and also that it is linked to accounts at Wells Fargo and BB&T, according to the affidavit.

May 2019

May 1-15: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters related to the township manager, according to the township solicitor.

May 1: County detectives Balchunis and James Ciliberto meet with Lisa Moore and record the interview, according to the affidavit. She turns over her cell phone and allows detectives to search it. At this interview, she allegedly tells them, according to Balchunis, that:

• She was using the township’s General Fund to pay herself, allegedly because of an agreement between her and the township officials. The General Fund was also used to pay her personal credit card bills.
• She knew what she was doing was wrong.
• She wrote herself checks from the township’s accounts to avoid paying payroll taxes.
• She used a stamp of Scudder Stevens’ signature and knew the supervisors wouldn’t approve the checks.
• She had been doing this for about eight years, and never included these expenditures in what she would give the supervisors and other officials.

May 1:

• County detectives get a search warrant and search Moore’s home, taking an Apple iMac computer that’s then turned over to a computer forensic expert, according to the affidavit.
• Supervisors also give permission to search the township office, and detectives find a letter allegedly from Umbreit Korengel & Associates about “outstanding payroll liabilities,” according to the affidavit.
• Detectives also seize a laptop computer and turn it over to the computer forensic expert, Balchunis writes in the affidavit.

May 2: Fulton’s fraud representative tells detectives that $1.47 million in payroll funds was transferred from the township’s account to Moore’s Capital One and Wells Fargo accounts. Money from the township’s account was also used to pay credit card bills, according to the affidavit.

May 6: Wells Fargo sends information to county Detective Balchunis that Lisa Moore owns the account, according to the affidavit.

May 10:

• County detectives talk with Tim Umbreit of Umbreit Korengal & Associates about letters found during the search of the township offices which reference “outstanding payroll liabilities,” according to the affidavit, which added that Umbreit “stated that it was very unusual that he would quantify the numbers especially the number of hours because he does not keep them. There would be no reason that he would be the official on the amount of hours the defendant is owed, she would be the official because she retains the information.”
• Kennett Township supervisors advise residents about the discovery of “suspicious transactions on township accounts” in a letter posted on the township website and sent by mail. In it, the supervisors said, “the township is bonded and insured against fraudulent activity, and the supervisors confirmed those policies are in full effect.”

May 13: Tim Umbreit tells detectives there’s no record of the letters on his company’s computers, Balchunis writes in the criminal complaint.

May 15: First supervisors’ meeting since the announcement. Supervisors spend almost the first hour answering what questions they could and cautioning the public not to speculate. Scudder Stevens tells residents that “Kennett Township’s finances are secure,” according to a statement he read at the beginning of the meeting. “As of now, the amount of the transactions in question is expected to be within our policy coverages.”

They also:

• Voted to put Lisa Moore on paid administrative leave;
• Voted to hire Umbreit, Wileczek & Associates for payroll and financial management services;
• Voted to hire the Philadelphia firm of Marcum LLP as the forensic accountant;
• Voted to hire Carl Francis of EnvisianStrategic for strategic communication services; and
• Voted to have the three supervisors as the only authorized signers on all the township’s financial accounts.

May 16 and 17: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

May 16: Fulton fraud representative and county detective find payments from the township’s bank account to an E-Trade online brokerage account, according to the affidavit.

May 17:

• Fulton’s fraud representative gives county detectives a list of all the electronic payments to E-Trade, according to the affidavit.
• Lisa Moore is fired.

May 20: Supervisors announce they have fired Moore “after new information was discovered and brought before the supervisors,” according to a letter sent to township residents.

May 20-24: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

May 22: County detectives search financial records that Moore had in the township office. One of them references accrued time that Moore alleges she is owed, according to the affidavit.

May 24: Supervisors announce they have hired an interim township manager, Alison Rudolf.

May 28: Alison Rudolf begins working as the interim manager. She starts reviewing policies and procedures in the township.

May 28 and 29: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters.

June 2019

June 3 and 4: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters.

June 5: Supervisors begin meeting with an update on the investigation, telling those in attendance that both the district attorney and Marcum were “in the final stages of securing records and documents, both from internal and external sources,” according to a statement that Stevens read. They also formally vote on:

• The firing of Lisa Moore;
• The hiring of Alison Rudolf as interim manager, at a rate of $100 an hour; and
• The hiring of David Woglam and Lafayette College’s Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government, to help fill the township manager position.

June 13 and 14: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters.

June 18 and 19: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters.

June 19:

• Supervisors meet and vote to switch all the township’s bank accounts to Fulton Bank.
• They also vote to make Supervisor Whitney Hoffman the new secretary/treasurer (which Moore had previously held).
• Stevens tells residents that the investigators have started the interview phase.

June 25: Supervisors’ Chairman Scudder Stevens and Vice Chairman Richard Leff are interviewed by investigators. In the criminal complaint, Stevens and Leff tell investigators, among other things:

• They didn’t know or authorize Moore “to receive annual compensation in the amounts reflected in the Kennett Township payroll records,” according to the affidavit of probable cause;
• They believed Moore was being paid a salary of between $120,000-$130,000; and
• They hadn’t seen two township memos that gave differing amounts for Moore’s annual salary, nor would they have approved them.

June 27: Supervisor Whitney Hoffman is interviewed by investigators. She tells them, among other things:

• She didn’t know or authorize Moore “to receive annual compensation in the amounts reflected in the Kennett Township payroll records,” according to the affidavit of probable cause.
• She believed Moore was being paid a salary of between $120,000-$130,000.
• She hadn’t seen two township memos that gave differing amounts for Moore’s annual salary, nor would she have approved them.

July 2019

July 10: Deadline for applications for township manager. Thirty-three people applied for the job, Stevens reports at the July 17 meeting, and nine would go on to be interviewed.

July 11: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

July 17: At the supervisors’ meeting, Stevens reports that the three supervisors have been interviewed by investigators. “As you would suspect, the investigators are being thorough, objective and professional,” he says in his opening statement.

July 18: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

July 23 and 24: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

August 2019

Aug. 1: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss matters of personnel, according to the township solicitor.

Aug. 6: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

Aug. 7

• Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss matters of real estate and personnel.
• At the supervisors’ meeting they vote to use The Payroll Factory, beginning in the fourth quarter, to process employee payroll instead of using Quickbooks in-house; and
• Stevens says in his statement in the beginning of the meeting that the district attorney’s and forensic accountant’s investigations “are proceeding normally and on schedule.”

Aug. 13: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel, according to the township solicitor.

Aug. 16 and 17: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

Aug. 20: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

Aug. 21:

• Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.
• Supervisors vote to hire Eden Ratliff as the new township manager.
• Also at the supervisors’ meeting, Stevens reports that the township continues to pay its bills on time. “We continue to work diligently to ensure that the government of Kennett Township proceeds without interruption and to take prudent steps to add both additional safeguards and security to all of our systems, financial and otherwise,” he says in his opening statement.

Aug. 22: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

Aug. 27: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

September 2019

Sept. 4:

• Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.
• At the supervisors’ meeting, Stevens says in his opening statement that the supervisors have started looking at how to communicate with the residents the results of the investigations by the district attorney and the forensic accountant.
• Supervisors vote to hire Blank Rome LLP “as special counsel to handle any civil liability associated with the matters currently being investigated,” according to the meeting minutes. The firm could help to recover missing funds, the township solicitor said.

Sept. 6: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel and litigation matters, according to the township solicitor.

Sept. 16: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

Sept. 18:

• Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.
• At the supervisors’ meeting, the board votes to change the official township office hours to five days a week from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 23: Eden Ratliff starts as the permanent township manager.

Sept. 25: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

October 2019

Oct. 2:

• Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.
• At the supervisors’ meeting, they announce the hiring of new finance/human resources director Amy Heinrich.
• It is also Eden Ratliff’s first official meeting as the township manager.
• Stevens, in his statement on the investigations, talks about the supervisors’ plan to hold a public meeting once the investigation is finished.

Oct. 7: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel, according to the township solicitor.

Oct. 8: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel, according to the township solicitor.

Oct. 14: Supervisors meet in executive session to discuss personnel, according to the township solicitor.

Oct. 16: At the supervisors’ regular monthly meeting, a number of steps are taken to improve the township’s financial and administrative health. They include:

• Hiring Roseanne McGrath as a human resources consultant to help develop what township Manager Eden Ratlliff called “critical human resources policies”;
• Holding a special meeting Oct. 28 about a switch in retirement plans to comply with federal tax laws;
• Reclassifying financial account numbers to comply with those recommended by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, one of the entities that audits the township’s financials; and
• Ensuring that transferred funds are accurately reflected in the account in which they need to be spent.

Oct. 17: Amy Heinrich begins work as Kennett Township’s new finance/human resources director. One of the things Heinrich, Ratliff, and the township staff begin to work on is creating a 2020 budget “from the bottom up,” looking at all expenditures.

Oct. 18: Supervisors meet in executive session for personnel and litigation, according to the township solicitor.

Oct. 21: Supervisors meet in executive session for personnel and litigation, according to the township solicitor.

Oct. 26: Supervisors meet in executive session for personnel and litigation, according to the township solicitor.

Oct. 28:

• Supervisors meet in executive session for personnel and litigation, according to the township solicitor.
• Supervisors hold a special meeting about the switch in tax plans which would bring the township up to federal code, according to meeting minutes.

Oct. 30: Supervisors meet in executive session for personnel and litigation, according to the township solicitor.

November 2019

Nov. 4: Supervisors meet in executive session for personnel and litigation, according to the township solicitor.

Nov. 6: At the supervisors’ meeting, Stevens reports that “the investigations are now nearly finished,” according to the statement he read. He also reminds residents about the public meeting the township will hold after the district attorney releases its report.

Nov. 13: At a special meeting about the 2020 budget, township Finance Director Amy Heinrich mentions a new accounting system that could be used instead of Quickbooks.

Nov. 25: Supervisors meet in executive session on personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.

December 2019

Dec. 4:

• Supervisors meet in executive session on personnel matters, according to the township solicitor.
• At the regular supervisors’ meeting, the board announces that as soon as the district attorney’s report is finished, they will issue their own press release, post the report, the township’s and district attorney’s press releases, and “any other public documents that are available” on the township website, and announce the date, time, and location of a special meeting to discuss the investigation.
• Supervisors also vote to hire VideoNet to provide video and audio of the special meeting at a cost not to exceed $6,111.56.
• The preliminary budget presented to the supervisors talks about how the previous management of the township’s finances “did not allow for a comprehensive understanding of the fiscal health of the township nor the true cost to operate the township and deliver government services,” according to the budget development overview presented by Ratliff.
• Ratliff reports that township staff have spent more than 700 hours trying to develop the budget for 2020 and have held numerous public meetings about it. He writes in the preliminary budget, “Developing the budget through many public meetings adds a layer of transparency to the process and provides the community with the opportunity to understand and influence the process in a productive and informed manner.”

Dec. 10: Chester County District Attorney announces charges against Lisa Moore for allegedly embezzling more than $3 million from the township. She is arrested and released on $500,000 bail.

Dec. 17: Special public meeting is planned at 7 p.m. at the Red Clay Room.

2020

Feb. 11: Moore is scheduled to have her preliminary hearing on “115 felony counts and 26 misdemeanor counts – including theft and receiving stolen property, computer crimes, forgery, tampering with public records and related offenses,” according to the township press release.