The Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting in Brownsville, OH, Tuesday evening May 27, 2014. Trustee Jeff Chorpenning, who supported recently arrested and past Bowling Green Township Park Committee President, Barbara Wiseman, tried dodging questions and changed his answers multiple times when asked about the financial records he received from Wiseman prior to her arrest. Wiseman was recently arrested for multiple felony thefts involving the Brownsville Cemetery Association, the Brownsville Methodist Church and the local Senior Citizens group where she maintained the financial records for these groups. Trustee Jeff Chorpenning was instrumental in having her placed into the Park Committee Presidents role and was certain to assign her all financial control of the Park Committee monies. The question was asked if the Board were going to investigate the possibility that Wiseman also stole from the Park Committee. Chorpenning refused to admit it was even a possibility that she may have stolen from the Township. He also refused to answer direct questions about which financial records he received. Barbara Wiseman, whose preliminary felony theft hearing is looming, worked closely with Chorpenning during her tenure. Once Wiseman gave Chorpenning all financial records and any monies she had collected after the Park Committee was disbanded by the board, Chorpenning refused to surrender them to the Bowling Green Township Board of Trustees. Chorpenning was forced to surrender the records to the board only after the Licking County Prosecutor's Office forced him to do so. Most records were missing and no monies were turned over by Chorpenning. It should be noted that Chorpenning not only voted against disbanding the Park Committee but placed a letter to the editor of the Buckeye Lake Beacon complimenting Wiseman on her efforts and, shockingly, especially on her honestly. An audit of the records was requested by the Bowling Green Township citizens with the initial Audit Meeting scheduled for June 16 at 6:00 PM. Chorpenning requested that legal counsel be present during the audit. It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney at this time. Please visit the "Friends of Bowling Green Township" Facebook page for regular updates.

• published: 29 May 2014
• views: 17