Former water authority clerk sentenced to four months for embezzlement
A former employee of the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority who embezzled more than $44,000 from the agency to pay her bills was sentenced Thursday in New London Superior Court to four months in prison.
Stephanie Hodge, 48, of Groton, had pleaded no contest to first-degree larceny and faced up to a year in prison when she stood before Judge Hillary B. Strackbein for sentencing.
While prosecutor David J. Smith recommended she serve the full sentence, her attorney, Peter E. Scillieri, argued that Hodge, who had no prior criminal record and who had worked her entire adult life, should receive a fully suspended prison sentence along with a period of probation.
Hodge, who worked as a customer clerk at SCWA's Gales Ferry office since 2003, used a billing system to shift money into different customer accounts between July 2011 and January 2013, according to the state.
Scillieri said that Hodge, who will be required to repay the amount and could be ordered to pay another $60,000 in costs associated with the crime following a civil court proceeding, would be "indentured" by the debt.
Hodge did not have a gambling problem or substance addiction, according to her attorney.
With her husband watching from the gallery, Hodge tearfully apologized for her crime, saying she was trying to pay the bills for her mother, who was in a nursing home.
Hodge added that she wasn't making any excuses for her behavior and that she is particularly sorry her actions hurt the people she worked with.
"Everybody has bills," the judge said. "Everybody has stress. If you weren't stealing, you would still be working there and paying your bills."
Strackbein imposed a sentence of 12 years in prison, suspended after 120 days served, followed by five years probation.
"I do think I have to send a message that this is not acceptable," Strackbein said.
k.florin@theday.com
Twitter: @KFLORIN
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