A New Florence-area woman has been charged with forgery, two counts of theft by deception, and two counts of receiving stolen property for allegedly stealing from a St. Clair Township taxpayer.
Westmoreland County detectives filed the charges against 51-year-old Tracy Lee Howard, who resigned as the township’s tax collector last month. Howard surrendered and was arraigned on Wednesday.
The investigation began when the daughter of the alleged victim notified county officials about discrepancies in her mother’s finances. Howard is accused of adding $1,000 to a tax payment check on one occasion and of overcharging the victim by $939 a second time. In both cases, Detective Tom Horan says she did not deposit the extra money into the tax collector’s account, but after the investigation began, he says she sent the victim a money order with $939 as a refund. She told the investigators she had made a math error when the incidents occurred in July of 2015.
Howard is free on $10,000 unsecured bond, with a formal arraignment scheduled for April 19th.
