2 accused of stealing village’s $260K

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A mother and daughter have been charged with stealing some $260,000 from a southwest Ohio village, reportedly pocketing traffic fines being paid in an Interstate 75 community long reputed to be a speed trap, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Former Arlington Heights employees Donna Covert, 52, and Laura Jarvis, 32, were each indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on two counts of theft in office, along with two counts of tampering with records and one property-misuse count. Prosecutors say the thefts, which have been under investigation for about two years, were carried out in 2007-10. An Ohio auditor’s report studying 2008-09 village records last year found lack of close record-keeping on traffic tickets and fines, or of deposits of money paid in fines.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters suggested that the tiny village should be dissolved, saying Arlington Heights and its some 800 people could be absorbed by surrounding municipalities.