Kennett Township has recovered 82 percent of the money embezzled by the former township manager and will no longer try to recover additional funds.
Lisa Moore, whose embezzlement of more than $3.2 million in township funds was discovered in 2019, will be responsible for paying the remainder through restitution, according to the township.
Current Kennett Township Manager Eden Ratliff announced that at the Jan. 17 supervisors’ meeting, adding that any future recovery efforts would cease. Wednesday was the last time “embezzlement recovery update” would appear on the supervisors’ agendas after four-and-a-half years.
“Further recovery efforts by the township at this time would incur additional legal fees that cannot be justified given the probability of further success,” Ratliff said. “Due to the lack of additional recovery options, having spent $1,356,892 to date, and given the probable lack of return on additional investment, the township is ceasing any further recovery efforts.”
The remaining 18 percent will be reimbursed as part of Moore’s guilty plea. She will make payments to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections parole offices, according to Ratliff.
When he was reading the press release to the audience at the supervisors’ meeting, Ratliff pointed out that most municipalities recover an average of 6 percent in fraud cases. Kennett Township recovered $2,665.095, or 82 percent.
“The Kennett Township-led recovery efforts have significantly expedited the return of taxpayer funds to Kennett Township taxpayers,” he said.
Supervisors’ Chairman Geoffrey Gamble called the embezzlement “a long and painful episode in the history of the township.”
About Monica Fragale
Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance reporter who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when she started working at The Kennett Paper and, years later The Reporter newspaper in Lansdale and other dailies. She turned to non-profit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Offers to freelance sparked the writing bug again started her fingers happily tapping away on the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.
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