Stonington ― Police have charged a longtime employee of Best Energy in Pawcatuck with embezzling $22,000 from the company.

Jane E. Morlen, 67, of Bradford, R.I., an 18-year employee, was charged Feb. 8 with first-degree larceny after a five month investigation by police. Morlen was released on a promise to appear in New London Superior Court on Feb. 17.

The affidavit for her arrest warrant states that she told police she occasionally took money from the company to pay bills or purchase household items. In addition she said she took the money because she felt she was underpaid and that she was able to take it.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit written by Detective George Stamatien, police met with best Energy owner James Lathrop on July 20, 2022 and he told police he had discovered Morlen had been stealing from his business for many years.

Lathrop terminated Morlen, whose duties included scheduling oil deliveries and account billing on July 28. The affidavit describes her as having “exclusive access,” to the billing system and she was solely responsible for receipt and deposit of payments.

The suspected thefts, between 2014 and 2022, were discovered after Morlen informed Lathrop she planned to retire, and Lathrop hired an eventual replacement for her. Morlen trained her replacement, but in the process, the replacement discovered discrepancies in some accounts, and suspected Morlen of altering records to hide theft.

Police obtained a copy of a forensic audit done on the company which detailed the methodologies employed to commit the alleged theft and the four involved accounts.

Two of the accounts were for customers that paid bills in cash, one customer account belonged to Morlen and a fourth belonged to the boyfriend of Morlen’s daughter.

During an Aug. 8, 2022 interview with police, the affidavit states Morlen told police Lathrop confronted her about the suspected theft, and she did not deny it but, rather, told him that she did not get paid enough.

According to the affidavit, Morlen stated Lathrop did not treat her well and that she worked long hours without help, often alone. She also stated that she was not compensated for accrued vacation time when she was terminated.

She described a volatile work environment with employees yelling at each other as well as an unsecure office and record keeping system. She noted that anyone could access the computer records and any employee could have altered records or taken money.

According to the affidavit, Morlen gave a written statement to police in which she admitted responsibility for some of the account discrepancies.

She said she had recorded that she and her daughter’s boyfriend had paid for oil deliveries when they had not. She stated that her daughter and daughter’s boyfriend had no knowledge of her actions.

She also admitted taking three payments associated with a third account when she discovered her eventual replacement was earning $5 more per hour than she was. She said she asked Lathrop for a raise and when he refused, she became angry.

“I thought this would be compensation for not getting a raise,” she said about the thefts.

She denied involvement in any other account discrepancies.

Some of the alleged thefts took place outside of the five-year statute of limitations so Morlen could not be charged in connection with them. Lathrop declined to comment Thursday.