Ohio Official Spent Public Funds on Wildebeest, owls for his roadside zoo

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Ohio Official Spent Public Funds on $4K Wildebeest for Own Zoo
Township fiscal officer was sentenced to almost 5 years, ordered to repay $340K



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A crooked official in Ohio spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds on personal purchases including a $4,116 wildebeest for his roadside zoo, according to a state audit.

Former Vinton Township fiscal officer Cy Viestra also bought "two owls, windows for a primate exhibit ... hot tubs, a snow cone machine, and other personal purchases that had nothing to do with the operations of the township," per a press release from Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber. Viestra was investigated after a county auditor tipped off the state auditor that Viestra appeared to be misusing county debit and credit cards, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

The township in southern Ohio had a population of 548 in the 2010 census. Viestra resigned after his home was searched in July 2020. He pleaded guilty in October last year to multiple felonies.

In February, he was sentenced to almost five years in prison and ordered to pay $340,000 in restitution. Investigators said Viestra created bogus records including invoices and billing slips to cover up "questionable transactions" starting in January 2016. Investigators said 812 transactions totaling $127,000 on an online auction website included the purchase of "generators, bicycles, a video game system, tricycles, telescopes, a drone, and numerous other items not related to the operations of the township."

https://www.newser.com/story/334304/ohio-official-spent-public-funds-on-4k-wildebeest-for-own-zoo.html



https://www.roadsidezoonews.org/post/cy-vierstra-used-stolen-money-to-buy-exotic-animals-hot-tubs-kayaks-and-items-for-his-roadside-zoo

[KS Toronado]

1. Cy Viestra is a reQublican

[2naSalit]

2. Five years...

Seems a little light for all that crimin'.

[tanyev]

3. Seems like that would be really hard to pull off in a town of only 548 people.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. yes, I'd ask "where is Cy getting money for all that stuff?"