New details: How police allege nearly $533K was stolen from small township in Centre County
A former secretary and treasurer who is accused of stealing nearly $533,000 from a small township in Centre County spent much of the public money gambling, state police at Rockview wrote in a charging document.
Pamela D. Hackenburg, 55, of Union County, would spend about $20,000 of Gregg Township’s money per month with the gambling company DraftKings, police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Hackenburg was charged Wednesday with four felonies, all of which relate to theft or fraud. She was suspended indefinitely without pay beginning in May.
The township’s supervisors will consider her potential termination at the board’s public meeting Dec. 12, Solicitor David Gaines Jr. told the Centre Daily Times on Monday. The meeting is scheduled to begin 6:30 p.m.
Hackenburg was hired in January 2019 and was responsible for 14 separate township accounts, police wrote. She was the only person with password access and maintained a locked office where she would “never allow anyone inside,” police wrote.
“It was a mess,” a trooper wrote of Hackenburg’s office. “There were piles of papers, old checks signed but not deposited, no filing system, and nothing was up to date.”
Gregg Township was alerted to the missing funds earlier this year after another township employee unexpectedly received a credit card statement in the mail, which showed numerous transactions with DraftKings, police wrote.
An audit carried out by an accounting firm found Hackenburg used multiple township funds to pay off credit card balances, including a $500,000 loan for a road project that was not started.
Two other township employees routinely used credit cards issued to them for work-related expenses such as fuel, maintenance and cleaning supplies, police wrote.
Gregg Township’s finances were “reconciled and up to date” before Hackenburg was hired, the audit found. The accountants told investigators she was able to keep the alleged theft hidden by jumbling balances and fabricating budget data given to the township’s supervisors.
“Hackenburg was fabricating the reports to cover her criminal activity,” police wrote. A defense lawyer was not listed and a woman who answered a phone call at a number listed for Hackenburg hung up on the CDT.
She was released Wednesday by District Judge Gregory Koehle on $500,000 unsecured bail. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11.
On its website, the township wrote more details would follow without offering a timeline. In public meetings since the summer, residents of the small municipality have pushed supervisors for answers and asked for transparency.
Board Chairman Charles Stover had previously promised the township would release a “complete, full report to the public.”
Faced with questions from taxpayers if the board was lax in its oversight, supervisor Ben Haupt told the CDT this summer that the township has put in steps to “have more verification than ever.”
The township has hoped the alleged theft would fall within its bond limits so it could be repaid, though it’s unclear if that will happen.
“We just want justice,” Haupt said Friday. “That’s all.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 5:27 PM.