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TagsThe former tax collector for Fairfield in Cumberland County was sentenced to state prison Friday for stealing $44,000 in property tax payments.
Heddi Sutherland, 43, of Millville, was sentenced to five years by state Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker Jr. in Bridgeton, state Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor said. She pleaded guilty on March 29 to second-degree official misconduct, a charge contained in a May 11, 2009 state grand jury indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.
Sutherland was ordered to pay $44,000 in restitution to the township government and will be permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey. In pleading guilty, Sutherland admitted that between January 2003 and December 2007, while employed as the tax collector, she stole approximately $44,000 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 fired as Fairfield 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 State Police and the Division of Criminal Justice.
Deputy Attorney General Susan Kase prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by Det. Matthew Peeke, Det. Sgt. Karl Ulbrich and Det. Anthony Carugno of the State Police Official Corruption Bureau, and Michael Wicke of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.
– TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
