Former Ionia Township Treasurer Marilyn Ethel Harp, 74, pled guilty to bank fraud Aug. 6, according to a release from U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey.
Harp, who was treasurer of Ionia Township between 1984 and 2025, is accused of stealing more than $745,000 beginning in 2014. According to the release, Harp was meant to deposit collected taxes into township bank accounts for public service use, but instead diverted a significant amount of money for her own benefit.
She was charged with bank fraud on June 30 and pled guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou on Aug. 6. According to the release, she admitted to taking township funds and using them to build a vacation home, travel and purchase luxury items.
“When others began to suspect that Harp was stealing public funds, she attempted to cover her tracks by fabricating some records and destroying others,” the release alleges. “As part of her plea agreement, Harp agreed to forfeit $647,698 that federal investigators connected to the fraud scheme and seized during the investigation.”
“As a corrupt public official who was stealing public funds, (Harp) deserved to be charged with the most serious crime available,” VerHey wrote. “Harp’s crime is worse than that, though. The money she stole from her neighbors was intended to fund her community’s school system. For over ten years, she took this money from the people in her community and spent it on a vacation home and other luxuries that were out of reach for many of her neighbors.”
Harp is scheduled for sentencing at 9 a.m. Dec. 3.
— Cassandra Lybrink is the local editor of The Sentinel-Standard. Contact her at clybrink@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Ionia Sentinel-Standard: Ionia Twp. former treasurer pleads to stealing $700K in taxpayer funds
Reporting by Cassandra Lybrink, Ionia Sentinel-Standard / Ionia Sentinel-Standard
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By Cassandra Lybrink, Ionia Sentinel-Standard | USA TODAY Network
