SAXONBURG — A former treasurer of the Winfield Township Volunteer Fire Department admitted she secretly siphoned nearly $68,000 from the organization to pay for mounting bills at home, state police said.

Jodie Lynn Undercuffler also acknowledged that she took the money because “it was so easy to get away with,” according to court documents.

Police on Monday arrested Undercuffler, 37, of Jefferson Township after she voluntarily appeared for her arraignment before District Judge Sue Haggerty in Saxonburg.

She was arraigned on felony charges of forgery, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and access device fraud and a misdemeanor charge of tampering with records.

Undercuffler, who is free on $75,000 unsecured bail, declined to comment following the proceedings. The married mother of three children said she has an attorney, who she would not identify.

Adam Hartwig, fire department public information officer, said, “The fire department is extremely disappointed that something like this would happen, and that a single individual could become so greedy with her position and take advantage of that position.”

Investigators said Undercuffler began skimming money from the department in November 2013, almost as soon as she started in the volunteer position of treasurer.

Before assuming that post, she served as department secretary, organization records showed.

“She stepped up to run for (treasurer) when no one else wanted the position,” said Hartwig, who also serves as Winfield Township’s secretary/treasurer.

As fire department treasurer, Undercuffler was responsible for handling the fire department’s savings and other financial accounts, authorities said.

The missing money — in all, $67,885 — went undetected until January of this year when Undercuffler was replaced, documents said.

Undercuffler gave up the post on her own, Hartwig said, when she opted not to seek re-election.

A standard internal review of the organization’s books and a subsequent audit revealed that she had written checks from the group’s general fund account to herself for “no legitimate purpose” to the department, police said.

Some of those fraudulent checks were made out to Undercuffler and some were made out to two other women, before they were cashed.

Trooper Joshua Black, who investigated the case, interviewed Undercuffler March 30 at the police barracks in Butler Township. She apparently offered up a confession with little or no hesitation.

“Undercuffler related that she did it to help support her family when they got behind on bills,” Black said in charging documents.

She allegedly admitted cashing the checks and keeping the money for her personal use.

The defendant also involved her daughter and that child’s friend, unknown to those two, in the scheme.

“Undercuffler related that she would tell these two individuals that the department owed her money, but she forget her ID, so (she asked) could she write the checks out in their names and have them cash the checks,” a police affidavit said.

The two others cashed the checks and gave Undercuffler the money. She told investigators that her daughter and friend “had nothing to do with the stolen money,” police said,

She said her scheme was simple: a matter of transferring money from the department’s Relief Association Fund and the department’s savings account into its general fund, from which she would write all the checks to herself.

Undercuffler told Black that she kept taking money “because she thought she would not get caught and it was so easy to get away with.”

The case illustrates the need for financial safeguards at all organizations and businesses, Hartwig conceded.

“The fire department is taking and has taken the necessary steps to ensure that all money donated is safe and accounted for,” he said. “We are doing what is needed to increase accountability and to make sure check and balances are in place.”

He admitted he was concerned how the case could impact the nonprofit department’s operation that struggles year to year to make ends meet.

“With any kind of negative publicity there’s always the chance that fundraising could be hurt,” Hartwig said. “But we want to make it clear that this is one individual, not the whole fire department.”

Meanwhile, Undercuffler at her arraignment told Haggerty that she began a new job Thursday at Heinz Field. She did not specify what that job was.

She also admitted she was previously arrested for bouncing checks.

Additionally, Haggerty in December and February found Undercuffler guilty of allowing her children to be truant from school in four separate cases.

She is still paying off $568 in fines and court costs in those cases.