CNBNews

years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker Jr. in Cumberland County. 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 Fairfield Township and will be permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey. Deputy Attorney General Susan Kase represented the state at the sentencing hearing.

In pleading guilty, Sutherland admitted that between January 2003 and December 2007, while employed as the municipal tax collector, she stole approximately $44,000 from Fairfield Township 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 terminated as Fairfield Township 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 New Jersey State Police and the Division of Criminal Justice.