A former payroll administrator for the Central Ohio Transit Authority was indicted on three felony counts Tuesday for allegedly manipulating payroll submissions to pocket $12,000.
Ashanti Powell, 45, of Pickerington was indicted in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas for allegedly manipulating payroll of retired employees and pocketing the unearned cash. The money was stolen was over a three-year period between 2019 and 2022.
Powell is charged with tampering with records, theft in office and telecommunications fraud.
Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber said in a statement the office's Special Investigations Unit launched the investigation when auditors flagged the potential payroll fraud at COTA. A former employee received a federal tax form for earnings in 2022, even though he retired in 2019.
Powell entered work hours for two former employees and changed direct deposit information so the paychecks went into her account.
The auditor's office also noted unapproved pay rates and vacation sell-backs.
COTA said in an emailed statement Powell was employed by the agency from 2019 to 2022, when she resigned from her position.
"COTA learned about the alleged incident after Ms. Powell left the organization. A retired COTA employee reached out to our payroll department inquiring about receiving a W-2 for the previous year, although they had not worked at COTA since 2019. This led COTA to ask the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit to investigate, which ultimately led to Ms. Powell’s indictment this week," the statement said.
The statement said since the incident, COTA has implemented protocols that require more than one administrator to set up a payroll account to prevent fraud.
