MANSFIELD — A $5,000 finding for recovery against Mansfield Finance Director Kelly Converse was issued by Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber this week.
The finding was expected, and made public on Sept. 8 as part of the city’s 2025 audit by the state. The issue has been reported on extensively for more than a year, but that didn’t make it any easier to absorb.
“In a case like this, the state recognizes the fiscal officer and they named me personally,” Converse said. “I take full responsibility.
“Believe me, we are just as frustrated and upset as any citizen. It’s a terrible experience to go through.”
Converse noted the entire amount has since been recovered, which city officials say is rare.
“It’s behind us,” she said, but added that a bad feeling still lingers from the episode which is now nearly 16 months old.
The Public Entities Pool of Ohio, a member-owned risk-sharing program which offers property and liability insurance alternatives for local governments and political subdivisions, was also cited.
Converse said the City of Mansfield employs between 350 to 400 workers, a number that fluctuates with seasonal employees.
According to the Ohio Auditor’s Office, a finding for recovery is an official determination issued by the state that public money has been misspent, illegally expended, unaccounted for, or that public property has been stolen, misused, or converted.
In this case, the finding stemmed from a phishing scam that took place in May of 2025 when $748,145 was stolen in a Business Email Compromise scheme. The Mansfield finance department was scammed into sending a payment intended for a vendor to a fraudulent bank account.
In the scheme, an individual acted as the CFO of a legitimate vendor and asked Mansfield’s finance department to update banking information. When the change was processed on May 22, 2025, the funds were sent to a fraudulent account.
The financial institution receiving the payment flagged it as suspicious, froze the receiving account and reported the incident to the city’s bank. However, Converse said Mansfield officials weren’t notified until May 29.
Converse outlined the situation to Mansfield City Council in September of 2025 as funds were being recovered.
Specifically, she said:
— $536,320 was traced and successfully recovered by the bank where the fraudulent account had been opened. “This is a rare occurrence, we were told,” Converse said.
— $200,000 was reimbursed through the city’s primary insurance coverage.
— The remaining $11,825 was recovered under a separate insurance policy.
Converse said she is “grateful for the swift and diligent work of our financial institutions, insurers, and investigative partners in helping us secure this recovery.”
The Ohio Auditor’s office issued a bulletin in April 2024 warning that there was an increase in Ohio governments falling victim to payment redirect schemes and business email compromise schemes.
In the Ohio Auditor’s report, it noted that Converse didn’t put guidelines in writing for her staff to follow as recommended by that bulletin.
“Prior to accepting the changes to the payment effort, none of the bulletin’s recommended steps were taken to independently verify that the request was legitimate,” the report states. “In addition, after receiving the bulletin, the finance director did not adopt a formal, written, independent vendor verification process or implement training for employees in the office to recognize vendor redirect schemes.
“Failure to implement the guidance to avoid vendor redirect schemes constitutes negligence.”
Converse said while the state’s finding was just made public, her office was given a proposed finding a number of months ago and has institutionalized changes to avoid a recurrence.
“I now verify every vendor change,” the finance director said. “Everything has to be documented. I have to approve all of those changes.”
She also pointed out the city was given a clean audit that showed no material weaknesses in Mansfield’s fiscal system.
“We continue to work with our IT, city administration and law enforcement partners to enhance our defenses against increasingly sophisticated cybercrime threats,” Converse told Richland Source previously.
The state auditor’s report is enclosed in a 275-page PDF document attached below.
