March 29, 2010
Office of The Attorney General
– Paula T. Dow, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
– Stephen J. Taylor, Director
Peter Aseltine
609-292-4791
Former Municipal Tax Collector in Cumberland County Pleads Guilty to Stealing $44,000 in Property Tax Payments
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.
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