Pamela Landry faces a litany of charges after authorities say she stole between $45,000 and $133,584 from 2017 to 2019, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office said.
An outside audit of Stow's books in 2019 revealed a shortage of $133,584.39 from the town's bank accounts. When authorities questioned Landry, whose job it was to manage those funds, she blamed the bank and gave the inspector a fake statement to prove it, the prosecutor said.
Landry retired in 2019, though it's unclear if that happened before or after the audit.
The numbers weren't adding up, so Stow leaders, the DA's office, and the Office of Inspector General opened an in-depth review of the town's finances and found that Landry had diverted taxpayer money to personal accounts, but she lied and used false bank statements to cover her tracks, police said.
While it's unclear how much she allegedly took, officials said the money was repaid.
Officials charged Landry with larceny of property by single scheme/embezzlement over $1,200, fiduciary embezzlement, making a false claim to a government agency, two counts of forgery, and writing a fake check, the prosecutor said. The judge released her without bail.
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