In The News 21 August 2026

Special audit details criminal case against former Woodsfield utility office supervisor

Ohio Auditor's Office

COLUMBUS – A special audit released Thursday details the criminal investigation into the former utility office supervisor for the Village of Woodsfield in Monroe County, who was convicted of theft in office earlier this year.

The Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) launched an investigation of Claudia Baker after auditors determined she was delinquent in her personal utility payments but had not been assessed late fees or had her utilities disconnected.

The full report on the case is available online at https://ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx.

Baker was hired by the village in July 2009 and served as utility office supervisor until she resigned in April 2023. SIU determined Baker closed two of her personal utility accounts with delinquent balances, fraudulently wrote off balances that were due, blocked late fee assessments, and made other unauthorized adjustments.

Baker was indicted in Monroe County Common Pleas Court in November 2025 and pleaded guilty to a single felony count of theft in office in April 2026.

She was sentenced to community control for three years and ordered to pay restitution and audit costs totaling $15,822.45. She could face 18 months in prison if she violates the terms of her community control. She is also barred from serving in public office.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 166 convictions resulting in more than $17.9 million in restitution. The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).

Add new comment

This is not for publication.
This is not for publication.
About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
Article comments are not posted immediately to the Web site. Each submission must be approved by the Web site editor, who may edit content for appropriateness. There may be a delay of 24-48 hours for any submission while the web site editor reviews and approves it. Note: All information on this form is required. Your telephone number and email address is for our use only, and will not be attached to your comment.
CAPTCHA This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.