Ohio Fiscal Officer Jailed For Unlawful Expenses

An Ohio town fiscal manager is in hot water, and not from the hot tub he bought. Cyril "Cy" Viersta was the fiscal manager for Vinton Township in Ohio. In 2017, red flags were raised when a complaint came through the Auditor of the State's Special Investigation Unit with allegations of Cy misusing the township credit and debit card. A review of transactions showed that between January of 2016 & July of 2020, Cy had used town funds to renovate his home and an animal sanctuary he runs that was home to tigers, different primates, and other animals. Cy would create fake invoices, billing slips, and other fake documents to hide his transactions. The included 812 debit card transactions totaling $127k on an online auction site where he bought drones, video game systems, tricycles, two snow owls, and a wildebeest among other items. He was indicted on 13 counts originally spanning from engaging in a pattern of corruption to dereliction of duty. He plead guilty in October 2022. He was ordered to pay back nearly $340k and has to spend 59 months in prison. See the full list of things he bought here.