A 70-year-old woman from Hastings is facing federal wire fraud charges after allegedly misappropriating huge sums of money while serving as the Clerk of Vermillion Township.

Maryann Stoffel allegedly used her elected position to misappropriate $650,000 of Township funds, forging the signatures of the Township's treasurer and its chairman on Township checks, which required at least two signatures.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota, Stoffel also solicited signatures from the treasurer and chairman "by falsely representing that she would use the checks to pay the Township’s bills."

Instead, the checks went to her personal bank account for her own use, with Stoffel allegedly concealing the theft by excluding the payments from the Township's annual report.

The alleged theft was investigated by the FBI, with Stoffel now facing one count of wire fraud.