Saugus Library Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing Over $800K
SAUGUS (CBS) - Linda Duffy, the former library employee accused of stealing more than $800,000 pleaded guilty Friday in Lynn District Court to a number of charges, including money laundering and mail fraud.
Police have said that beginning in 2004, Linda Duffy set up a bank account at Eastern Bank under the name "Saugus Public Library."
Instead of depositing charitable donations and checks intended to pay library fees into the library's actual account, police say Duffy would put the money into her decoy "Saugus Public Library" account before transferring the money into her personal account.
Duffy pleaded guilty to four counts of mail fraud, 10 counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated identity theft. She will be sentenced on Jan. 10.
According to her December indictment, 65-year-old Duffy managed to accumulate nearly half of the money by deceiving the GE Foundation.
The foundation matches employees' and former employees' charitable donations.
Duffy is accused of deceiving GE Foundation into matching $400,000 worth of fake donations.
Duffy's scheme ended in July of 2011 when she abruptly resigned.
She faces up to 20 years in prison on the mail fraud and money laundering charges and a mandatory minimum of two years on the identity theft charge.
It's not clear whether Duffy will receive a reduced sentence as part of her plea deal.
