WESTFIELD – A Longmeadow woman has been allowed to submit to facts sufficient to warrant guilty findings for two embezzlement charges, thus avoiding a judicial judgment that might have found her guilty of the crimes she twice confessed to.
Lori Hardaker, 41, of 36 Conversed Street had been arraigned Oct. 23, 2012, in Westfield District Court for two charges of larceny of property valued more than $250 by a single scheme after her employer had reported to police that the woman had confessed embezzling from her medical practice.
City Det. Brian Freeman investigated the complaint and found that Hardaker had been employed by two medical offices and had been responsible for the deposit of the receipts of the practices.
The complainant told Freeman that she had discovered that deposit receipts for her practice were missing and her investigation pointed to Hardaker as the responsible party.
The victim said that, when she confronted Hardaker, the woman confessed to stealing the money.
Freeman reports that, during a video recorded interview with the suspect, she again confessed to embezzling money from the two practices that had employed her.
Freeman found that a total of $6,834 had been stolen from one practice and $44,955 had not been deposited into the account of a second medical office Hardaker also worked for.
District Attorney Fred Burns submitted a tender plea to which Hardaker had accepted at a court hearing March 12.
The agreement recommended that Westfield District Court Judge Philip Contant place Hardaker on probation for five years and order her to pay restitution in full.
The agreement, which Contant accepted, stipulates that the restitution is to be paid, in part, with funds from Hardaker’s 401K retirement plan.
Contant had earlier ruled that Hardaker was indigent and in need of a court appointed lawyer to defend the case.
He also ordered that Hardaker be assessed $90 for each of the two charges and that she pay a $65 monthly probation service fee. That fee, however, is waived for any month in which Hardaker pays at least $500 restitution.
