A Warren County notary has pleaded guilty to a total of 11 felonies for stealing over $800,000 from customers and employers.

Brenda L. Gibson, 58, Pittsfield, entered the plea before Judge Gregory Hammond.

According to information provided by county court officials, Gibson pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by unlawful taking, two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, two counts of access device fraud and restricted activities – conflict of interest. At a second docket, she pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by unlawful taking and two additional counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds. According to the affidavit of probable cause, Gibson accepted payments at her notary business from 714 individuals between January 2020 and December 2021. From those payments – for sales tax, registrations, and titles – $339,718.07 should have been forwarded to PennDOT, but were not.

According to the affidavit, Gibson also allegedly failed to send $81,018.18 to PennDOT from 15 “apportionment registrant business owners.” According to the affidavit, PennDOT had suspended its agreement with Brenda Gibson Notary of 1595 Market St., Warren, multiple times in 2020 and 2021, before terminating the agreement on Aug. 9, 2021. The department conducted an audit of Gibson’s business later that month, according to the affidavit, and found hundreds of outstanding applications that were never forwarded by Gibson to the department.

In addition to the amounts that were intended to be paid to PennDOT, Gibson collected a fee of “at least $55 to process the transaction” from the 714 individuals and 15 businesses, according to the affidavit. Gibson “failed to forward” $420,736.25 “while collecting $40,095 for services never rendered,” according to the affidavit.

She faces additional charges relating to allegations that she stole $134,000 from Dyke’s Garage in Bear Lake, where she was employed for 16 years, and $325,000 from Deerfield Township, where she had been secretary/treasurer for six years.

A series of charges were not prosecuted in exchange for the plea and those include four counts of receiving stolen property, two counts of theft by exception, forgery, deceptive business practices, tampering with records or identification and two counts of misapplication of entrusted property.