Pleasant Township trustees say $191K stolen in cybersecurity incident

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Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. Investigations are underway after officials say $191,000 was stolen from Pleasant Township in a cybersecurity incident discovered over the weekend.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio — Officials in Pleasant Township say about $191,000 in taxpayer funds was stolen in a cybersecurity incident discovered late Saturday, prompting an ongoing investigation and concern from residents.

Trustee Nancy Hunter described the situation as difficult during a trustee meeting Tuesday night, saying, “It’s been a rough weekend.”

Trustee Edward Sheets said he was notified Sunday morning that roughly $191,000 was missing from the township’s checkbook.

“It happened in nine different occurrences,” Sheets said.

Officials said the transactions did not originate from a township computer, and they believe employee information was not compromised. However, staff have been asked to monitor their accounts as a precaution.

Sheets said passwords have been updated, and the township’s bank account was frozen to prevent further unauthorized activity.

The incident has raised concerns among residents, including Matt Montoney, who has lived in the township for 24 years.

“I can’t believe they didn’t have some things in place that would prevent something like that happening,” Montoney told 10TV outside of Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s unbelievable that that would happen in this day and age.”

“It’s our money that’s gone now, and they’ve got to try to recover that,” he added.

Montoney said the township’s response seems to fall short.

“That’s hardly sufficient,” he said, adding that “somebody should be held accountable if they can find out who it was that did this. I mean, obviously they should be prosecuted.”

In the meantime, officials said the incident will not impact township operations.

“It has no impact on the fire department when it comes to response,” Pleasant Township Fire Chief Dave Whiting told 10TV. “It will have no impact on budgetary issues. It won’t shortchange us in any way, because we have the funds to continue to do what we’re doing and respond to everybody’s calls and needs.”

The township’s bank is investigating the fraudulent withdrawals and has told officials it expects to replace the funds following its investigation.

“If it was found that it was through no fault of ours, we should get the money back,” Fiscal Officer Paula Wilkins said during the meeting.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has taken a report and is assigning a detective to the case, Wilkins said. The township and the bank’s cybersecurity department are also conducting investigations.

Sheets said the township is taking the matter seriously.

“We are very fiscally responsible for the money residents afford us,” he said. “Other than that, I can just tell you that the situation is under investigation.”