After former Treasurer Antoinette Hodge was convicted of stealing more than $100,000 in tax payments, Mayor Bill Gerke said changes to the way the office operates will help ensure a similar theft doesn’t happen again .

“At city hall we stopped accepting cash payments, we only take checks or money orders now,” Gerke said. “And that’s one of the many things we’ve done to make sure something like this doesn’t happen in the future.”

On Thursday, Hodge was convicted of four felony charges for stealing $106,750 in cash tax payments between 2020 and 2021 while serving as Uniontown’s elected treasurer. Prosecutors said Hodge used the money for personal expenses, including spending more than $1,500 a day on lottery games.

“The defendant was elected to a position of trust in her community. She abused that trust and defrauded taxpayers for her own gain,” state Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a statement. “Prosecuting these crimes is vital to maintaining the integrity of local government.”

Gerke said changes to how the office operates will be “a long time coming.”

“And it’s not just because of the Antoinnnete Hodge situation, it’s just to get with the times,” he said.

One of the new policies requires more than one person to go to the bank when making deposits.

“There are even more sets of eyes,” Gerke said. “As I’ve always said, it’s just one way of making an honest man honest.”

The mayor said accountability is always a good thing and the lack of oversight has allowed some things to “fall through the cracks.”

“We just want to keep everyone on board and make people remember that their jobs are to serve the community. That’s what we’re here for, to serve the community and not serve ourselves.”

Hodge will be sentenced Nov. 21 and is scheduled to go on trial next month in another theft case. In that matter, she faces 33 counts of forgery for allegedly taking $112,484 from the Western Youghiogheny Baptist Association, which is a religious association with 27 individual churches in the region, including Fayette and Greene counties.