Now 74 years old, Marilyn Ethel Harp served as Ionia Township treasurer for nearly forty years, from 1984 to 2025, collecting property taxes from residents of Ionia Township, which she was supposed to deposit into township bank accounts to be used for public services.
The criminal charge alleges that Harp committed fraud between 2014 and 2025 when she diverted much of this money—nearly $750,000-- for her own benefit.
Harp has admitted she used the township funds for herself, fabricating and destroying records to cover up the thefts.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey stated:
“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 expected to be sentenced December 3rd.
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