Susan Duffy, a former employee at the Westfield City Hall, appeared in court yesterday for sentencing. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
SPRINGFIELD – Susan Duffy, who admitted to embezzling more then $100,000 from the City of Westfield while working as a clerk in the Collector’s Office, will not serve any time in federal prison.
Duffy, 49, who entered two guilty pleas in U.S. District Court on Dec. 19, 2012, was sentenced to serve three years probation and to pay $140,000 in restitution yesterday by Judge Michael A. Ponsor.
Ponser set several conditions for Duffy’s probation, including that she serve 11 months of ‘house detention’ during which time she will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device as part of her probation. Duffy will be allowed to leave her home only to go to her places of employment in Southwick, attend religious services, and for medical appointments.
Ponser said that he did not impose incarceration in a federal prison or half-way house to enable Duffy to work and earn an income for her support and to begin restitution.
“I am interested in crafting a sentence that will have financial features to ensure that Ms. Duffy pays restitution,” Ponsor said.
The sentencing guideline gave Ponsor several options, including a prison sentence of between 12 and 18 months, as well as fines of between $3,000 and $30,000, in addition to make restitution of $140,000.
Ponsor said the sentencing alternatives include sentencing Duffy to serve up to 18 months in prison, “a very severe penalty for Ms. Duffy’s conduct,” or he could confine her in a community correctional facility (halfway house) where she would return each day after work, or he could impose the home detention and straight probation period.
“I feel pained by your betrayal to the city, your co-workers and the citizens of Westfield,” Ponsor said. “I do believe that the defendant’s conduct, which is almost inexplicable, arose from circumstances the defendant was suffering. This is what triggered her behavior.”
Ponsor also noted that Duffy has no prior criminal record, that there is little chance of “recidivism”, that Duffy is working two jobs, and that she is dealing with her emotional issues through clinical therapy, as factors he considered in developing a suitable sentence.
“The crime and your emotional response came close to costing you your life,” Ponsor said to Duffy.
Ponsor ordered Duffy to pay $110,278 to MIIA Property and Casualty of Woburn, the insurance company which reimbursed the city for that amount, and to pay the Internal Revenue Service $30,800 because Duffy has not declared the stolen money as income on her tax returns.
Duffy, as part of the plea agreement entered in December 19, 2012, wrote a first-person account of how the scheme worked for three years. Duffy was hired, under her married name of Susan Hall, in 2005, and in 2008 began to skim property and excise tax and utility bill payments from the Collector’s Department. Duffy said at that hearing that she found a way to manipulate that system beginning in 2008.
U.S. District Attorney Paul Smyth has requested Ponsor to impose a sentence of eight months incarceration, followed by two years of supervised probation.
“This is a serious crime,” Smyth said, “the loss of $110,278 is not an insignificant crime.”
Duffy’s defense attorney, Thomas Kokonowski, argued that his client “is taking responsibility” for her actions. “I would suggest (to the court) that my client was urging me a year ago to get this done.”
Kokonowski said the Duffy had recently lost her mother, was in a domestic relationship that eventually resulted in divorce and has two children, to whom she is devoted, with medical needs.
Kokonowski said that Duffy was standing at her mother’s grave, holding a box cutter, when she wrote suicide notes to her two children.
“It was at that moment she decided to take responsibility,” Kokonowski said. “I can tell you that Ms. Duffy is not the person that Congress and the Courts had in mind when they developed these sentencing guidelines.”
“My client has come so far. She is not the type of person that the sentencing guidelines (were developed for), incarceration is not appropriate,” Kokonowski said.
Duffy, dressed in black slacks, with a black and red paisley peasant blouse spoke briefly, and softly, apologizing to the court and the city for her actions and committing to repaying the money.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik was also asked by Ponsor to address the court and said that the betrayal of public trust has shook the community to its core.
“The impact that this type of situation has cause for the City of Westfield” has been significant because “the primary duty of elected and appointed officials is to hold money, paid by citizens, in trust,” Knapik said. “Actions like these do have consequences.”
Following the sentencing, Knapik said that “I have a great deal of respect for Judge Ponsor and accept his decision.”
Ponser added a number of other conditions to Duffy’s probationary period including random drug testing, as often as twice a week. Duffy, as a convicted felon, will be required to provide a DNA sample that will be entered into the federal computer database. Duffy is forbidden to own firearms as a felon, nor can she open lines of credit (credit cards) without the permission of the Probation Department. Duffy is required to meet with the IRS to development a tax payment plan and was ordered to continue her counseling sessions.
Ponsor waived court fees and several other associated costs, stating that Duffy will be challenged financially to make restitution to the city’s insurer and the IRS.
Ponsor also thanked Knapik and the other city officials attending the sentencing, noting that there was a similar incident in the past at the federal court when a co-worker, a friend, embezzled money.
“It strikes at our sense of vulnerability,” Ponsor said.
