By GREG SAULMON
Daily Hampshire Gazette
@GregSaulmon
NORTHAMPTON — A Hampshire Superior Court jury on Wednesday found Lori A. Towne not guilty of stealing over $200,000 from SealRyt Corp., a former employer where she worked as a bookkeeper and business manager.
Towne, 51, of Easthampton and formerly of Westhampton, was acquitted on six counts each of larceny over $250 by a single scheme, check forgery, and uttering false checks.
“We are very pleased with the verdict,” defense attorney Alan Rubin, of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said outside the courtroom as Towne hugged supporters.
Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Jayme A. Parent, who prosecuted the case, thanked jurors for their service, for their attention during the trial and for “carefully assessing all of the testimony and evidence.”
“Although we are disappointed with the verdict, we respect it,” Parent said.
Jurors began deliberating late Tuesday afternoon and reached the verdict shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Reached by telephone Wednesday evening, SealRyt president Mark Wilkinson said he and his wife Cheryl were “both very surprised” upon hearing the verdict.
Still, Wilkinson said, he wanted to thank the jurors, Parent, Judge Mary-Lou Rup and others involved in the case.
“I give my complete commendation to everyone in that courtroom who had anything to do with the case,” said Wilkinson, who testified against Towne over the course of two days last week. “I trust the system. The trial was long and full of details.”
Of the jury, he added: “They did their duty. They did their job.”
Prosecutors alleged that between 2002 and 2010 Towne stole more than $200,000 from SealRyt using company checks, and by altering the company’s books to pay three personal credit card accounts — including two in her husband’s name — as well as personal car insurance bills, phone bills and herself.
The trial began Dec. 7 with jury selection. Opening statements and the first witness testimony followed on Dec. 9, with Wilkinson telling jurors that in 2010 Towne walked into his office and confessed to stealing thousands of dollars from the company.
In her own testimony, though, Towne denied making that confession, and said she was not aware that a document Wilkinson asked her to sign was an admission of guilt.
Towne told the jury that while she did write tens of thousands of dollars in company checks to pay for her personal bills, Wilkinson had approved of and even encouraged the practice.
“He authorized me to do that because I was a single parent and it was just his way of giving me an extra benefit,” Towne said while on the stand Monday. She also testified that other workers received financial benefits outside the company’s payroll, and that it was Wilkinson’s way of taking care of his employees.
In the interview following Wednesday’s verdict, Wilkinson said he gave Towne no special treatment, and disputed her testimony characterizing payouts for employees’ personal expenses as a common practice at SealRyt.
“The expenses I did pay for were when people were executing something on behalf of the company,” Wilkinson said, referring to conferences and other business-related events. “I would pay their personal expenses to get there, to stay there — and that’s the right thing to do. Personal expenses related to their outside life — gas, heating bills — absolutely not.”
Wilkinson did acknowledge one period during which he gave several employees $500 each to do “something that was really important to them.”
He said Towne put the money toward a cruise, while another employee used the money to visit an elderly family member in Puerto Rico.
“What an appropriate thing I thought I was doing,” Wilkinson said.
The $500 figure echoed testimony Towne delivered this week.
“When I would go on vacation, (Wilkinson) would say ‘just write yourself a check for $500 and bring me back a bottle of Crown Royal when you return,” she told the jury.
SealRyt Corp. develops, patents and manufactures alternative sealing devices in the fluid and gas-sealing industry. The company operated in Easthampton’s mill district at 150 Pleasant St. before relocating to Westfield in 2011.
Reflecting on the case Wednesday, Wilkinson said, “I think it would be most wise if both parties moved on.”
Greg Saulmon can be reached at [email protected]
