Min Xian of Spotlight PA State College wrote the story.
The State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, a nonpartisan, independent newsroom devoted to investigative and public service journalism in Pennsylvania, created this report. Visit SpotlightPA.org/newsletters/talkofthetown to subscribe to Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter including events, in-depth local stories, and more from north-central PA.
MILLS IN SPRING The day before Thanksgiving, the former treasurer and secretary of a small rural township in Centre County was taken into custody on suspicion of embezzling over half a million dollars in public funds.
The criminal complaint charged Pamela Hackenburg, 55, of Millmont with first-degree felony of theft and receiving stolen property, as well as third-degree felonies of identity theft and access device fraud.
According to a State Police inspector who submitted the charge, Hackenburg was recruited by Gregg Township in January 2019 and was given responsibility for 14 different bank accounts. According to the lawsuit, she kept a locked office in the municipal building, was the only person in the township with password access to them, and would never let anyone inside her office.
According to State Police, Hackenburg reportedly used this complete authority over township resources between March 2019 and May 2024 to make $532,747.67 in unlawful, personal charges using township credit cards.
The investigator claimed that Hackenburg used a significant amount of the theft for gaming. Beginning in January 2023, she spent around $20,000 a month on DraftKings, a national sportsbook and daily fantasy sports betting company, using her township credit card and the card of another employee.
Credit cards were regularly used by two other township employees to pay for maintenance supplies and fuel, among other work-related expenses. That’s how the illegal spending was found, according to State Police.
Earlier this year, Jim Smith, the township emergency management coordinator, was surprised to receive a credit card statement in the mail. Normally, Hackenburg would receive these bills. Smith informed First National Bank of his suspicions that fraudulent transactions had been performed based on the statement.
After being informed in May, the Board of Supervisors of Gregg Township placed Hackenburg on unpaid suspension and then engaged accountants to audit the local government’s financial records. According to the allegation, Hackenburg’s locked office was a disaster in the eyes of accountants.
According to the complaint, there were mountains of documents, outdated checks that had been signed but not deposited, no filing system, and nothing that was current.
The accountants concluded that Gregg Township’s finances were reconciled and current before Hackenburg started working there. According to the criminal complaint, Hackenburg concealed the alleged theft from township officials by falsifying data in the budgets she gave supervisors, obfuscating balances in township expenditures, and using funds from a restricted fund for unfinished work and a $500,000 township road project loan to pay off the credit cards.
Gregg Township announced Hackenburg’s arrest on its website and promised to provide additional information soon. At the meeting on December 12, the board will talk about her potential termination, Township Solicitor David Gaines told Spotlight PA. In the months since the board first brought attention to the problem, locals have called on political officials to provide an explanation.
Hackenburg faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the two first-degree felonies and a maximum sentence of seven years in prison for the two third-degree offenses.
Hackenburg was freed on $500,000 in unsecured bail. The case’s preliminary hearing is set for December 11.
Hackenburg was not available for comment, and her lawyer is not listed in court records.
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