HUBBARDSTON, Mass. (AP) - A former tax collector sentenced to a year in jail for stealing more than $500,000 from a small Massachusetts town has agreed to forfeit $25,000 in retirement money as restitution.
The Telegram & Gazette reports the settlement between Cynthia Washburn-Doane and the town of Hubbardston was approved Tuesday. The stolen amount represents more than 5 percent of the town’s $8.7 million budget.
Washburn-Doane previously paid $120,000 in restitution, and the town has agreed not to seek any more. The town also received more than $200,000 in insurance money.
Washburn-Doane pleaded guilty last year to stealing tax proceeds over the course of a decade.
She had been the tax collector for 25 years. She said she had a daughter in college and was using the money to pay her family’s bills.
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Information from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), http://www.telegram.com
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