FBI probing $118K embezzlement by ex-Westbrook city worker
Photo/Tim Greenway
Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton from a 2011 file photo.
Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton released a public statement Wednesday confirming that a former employee embezzled $118,000, and that the FBI and Westbrook police are looking into suspicious transactions in the private bank accounts of that employee, who has been fired.
“Initial evidence of this incident was brought to the city’s attention by local agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a Westbrook Police Officer, currently on assignment with the bureau,” the statement from Hilton and City Administrator Jerre R. Bryant said.
Subsequent interviews with the former employee, an examination of city financial records by the FBI, the city’s independent auditor and the city’s chief financial officer confirmed that the embezzlement had taken place between July 2015 and April 2016.
The investigation is ongoing. The statement said it appears the money was skimmed from cash deposits over the nine-month period, and that the city understands how the fund diversion was executed.
In response, Westbrook has revised its reconciliation and bank deposit procedures, increased redundancy in that process and further separated responsibilities among multiple employees. The city’s independent audit firm will further test existing procedures and policy compliance verification.
“It is important to emphasize that there is no evidence that anyone’s private information has been accessed or compromised in any way,” according to the mayor’s statement. Since the legal and financial investigation is ongoing, no charges have been filed yet against the former employee, who the city declined to identify.
The mayor said she is gravely concerned about the embezzlement and that the development of more checks and balances in the city’s financial procedures will be an open process.
Hilton was a Mainebiz 2011 Woman to Watch in her other position as CEO of VNA Home Health & Hospice in South Portland.
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