TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that the former tax collector
for Fairfield Township, Cumberland County,
pleaded guilty today to stealing $44,000
in property tax payments.
According
to Director Taylor, Heddi Sutherland, 43,
of Millville, pleaded guilty to a charge
of second-degree official misconduct before
Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker Jr.
in Cumberland County. The charge was contained
in a May 11, 2009 state grand jury indictment.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Sutherland be sentenced to five years
in state prison. She must pay $44,000 in
restitution to Fairfield Township and will
be permanently barred from public employment
in New Jersey. Deputy Attorney General Susan
Kase took the guilty plea for the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. Judge
Becker scheduled sentencing for May 7.
In
pleading guilty, Sutherland admitted that
between January 2003 and December 2007,
while employed as the municipal tax collector,
she stole approximately $44,000 from Fairfield
Township by collecting cash property tax
payments from township residents and keeping
the money for her personal use. The state’s
investigation revealed that Sutherland made
computer entries of the cash payments using
the township’s tax collection software
and issued receipts to taxpayers. However,
she then altered the computer entries in
order to conceal her theft of the cash,
which was never deposited into the township’s
bank account.
Sutherland
was terminated as Fairfield Township tax
collector in March 2008 because she could
not obtain the necessary security bond required
for persons holding such positions. The
new tax collector and an accounting firm
hired by the township for an audit discovered
a discrepancy between the amount of property
taxes collected and the amount of tax proceeds
actually deposited into the township’s
bank account. They referred the matter to
the New Jersey State Police and the Division
of Criminal Justice.
The
investigation was conducted by Detective
Matthew Peeke, Detective Sgt. Karl Ulbrich
and Detective Anthony Carugno of the State
Police Official Corruption Bureau, and Deputy
Attorneys General Kase and Michael Wicke
of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau.
### |
