UNIONTOWN, Belgium – Antoinette Hodge, the defiant City of Uniontown Treasurer charged with embezzling so much cash that the city had to increase property taxes, is now accused of stealing $30,000 from a religious organization based here.
The Youghiogheny Western Baptist Association, YWBA, has accused Antoinette Hodge, the organization’s treasurer, of stealing $30,000, forging three checks and neglecting to pay $12,000 of the YWBA’s utility bills.
Other reports, so far unsubstantiated, put the total of YWBA involved funds in six figures, even more than the $106,750 she allegedly stole from the City of Uniontown treasury.
Dr F. Diane Hobson, pastor of Mt. Sinai Charleroi PA and YWBA member, replying to a Neighborhood Crime Watch posting on Facebook, wrote that the YWBA “is in the process of filing criminal charges against Ms Antoinette Hodge.
Hobson could not be reached for comment. A source familiar with YWBA confirmed that the organization’s board of directors voted last week to present its evidence to Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower and ask that formal charges be filed against Hodge.
Bower has not returned telephone calls seeking comment.
His office, to avoid any perception of impropriety, did not investigate Hodge’s alleged theft of Uniontown taxpayers’ funds. Bower is a registered Republican; Hodge a Democrat. Rather, the months-long investigation was conducted by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, BCI.
State Police in Uniontown did not confirm any investigation or request to investigate Hodge and the YWBA. The BCI did not return a call seeking comment.
It could not be determined when Hodge allegedly committed the crimes. A close associate of Hodge, who denied knowing specific details of the YWBA allegations, said the timing of the organization’s claims is suspicious. “It’s a calculated effort,” said Carmina Taylor, a Philadelphia community activist and a chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP. “Why now” make the accusation?
The YWBA said Taylor is “trying to set her (Hodge) up” by coordinating allegations to coincide with a criminal complaint filed in December 2022 that Hodge, as Uniontown treasurer, stole $106,750 cash from city taxpayers to fund her alleged prodigious gambling and paying for several vacations.
Hodge was charged in that alleged scheme in December 2022 with four felony and two misdemeanour counts, including theft, failure to repay a debt, misapplying government funds, obstruction and perjury. The charges carry a maximum penalty of up to five years in jail and fines. No court date has been set.
Hodge could not be reached for comment on either of the two theft allegations.
A source familiar with YWBA said the organization has only about $30 remaining in its checking account. That may explain why when calling the organization and supported by the allegation of unpaid YWBA utility bills, the recorded message is that the number “is no longer in service.”
The lack of activity on YWBA’s Facebook page may be another indication. The YWBA’s Facebook page’s last recorded post was on Feb. 4, several days before Neighborhood Crime Watch posted its initial report. Dr Hobson, in her reply, wrote that she was removed as an administrator of the Facebook page out of “retaliation” by another administrator.
The YWBA, Dr Hobson wrote, “will be working with the Facebook security team to shut down the old page and will be opening a new one. We will keep you posted when the new page is running.”
As of this report, the new YWBA page has not been activated.
Hodge, whose four-year term in office ends later this year, has not said if she will seek re-election. She ignored a city council request in January to tender her resignation. Because Hodge, an elected city official, can’t be removed from office by the city council, Mayor Thomas “Bill” Gerke and the city council asked the state legislature to impeach her.
