Ohio county fair loses $60K in apparent tax scam

LONDON, Ohio (AP) — An organization treasurer who lost more than $60,000 in county fair funds to an apparent scam is under investigation by the Ohio auditor’s office.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the woman was fired from the Madison County Agricultural Society last fall after admitting she used the money to pay unpaid back taxes to a purported IRS agent in what turned out to be a popular scam.

The county prosecutor says investigators will check the ex-treasurer’s personal finances. He says they’re trying to determine whether she stole money to cover what she believed to be her own tax debt or was scammed because she thought the organization owed money.

The society’s president says its treasurer wasn’t bonded, so it lost the money. He says its financial safeguards will be reviewed.