Barre's former tax collector to dispute charge

Barre's former tax collector to dispute charge
Attorney questions validity of law, says a town is not a corporation

Damien Fisher
News Staff Writer
 

WORCESTER - The former Barre town tax collector indicted for stealing more than $300,000 to reportedly fund her gambling habit wants one of the charges against her dismissed.

Marcia Langelier, 62, was indicted last year on felony counts of embezzlement by a municipal officer, larceny of more than $250 by a single scheme, and making false entries into a corporate financial books.  It’s that last charge her attorney, John Roemer, wants to see dropped. Mr. Roemer said Monday he thinks that charge is misapplied in this case.

Mr. Roemer will argue on Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court that the law does not extended to cities and town.

“I’ll be arguing that a municipality is not a corporation,” he said.

If successful, Ms. Langelier would still be looking at two serious felony charges related to her time as Barre’s tax collector. She had been in the job for almost 20 years when employees in the town started suspecting something might be amiss with the way funds were handled.

Barre had been experiencing severe cash flow problems for years, when selectmen decided to change the charter to make the position of tax collector appointed. Up to that time, Ms. Langelier had been elected into the job.

The report written by Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Leo states that a replacement for Ms. Langelier was soon hired, but town officials agreed to let her stay on for six more months so that she could qualify for retirement benefits.

New Tax Collector Nancy Talbot started asking Ms. Langelier about several “red flags” in the system to handle money coming in, and Ms. Langelier reacted by quitting her job during her lunch break, according to the report. Ms. Langelier initially reported she was injured going to the post office to pick up tax collector mail.

The town hired a private firm to conduct a forensic audit for the years 2005 to 2012, finding at least $251,000 likely stolen from the town. People who had come in to the town to pay for their real estate taxes were issued receipts, but that money did not make it into town accounts, according to the report. The total amount of money pegged as being stolen grew to more than $300,000, Trooper Leo reports.

In his investigation, Trooper Leo found that Ms. Langelier made frequent trips to the casinos Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. She would go to one of these casinos at least once a week to gamble, he reports. He contacted both casinos and found that between 2006 and 2010, Ms. Langelier lost $163,793 at Foxwoods, and another $202,984 at Mohegan Sun between 2006 and 2010.

“I noted that this level of gambling is not supported by (Ms.) Langelier’s salary, estimated at approximately $25,000,” Trooper Leo reports.

The reports from the casinos indicate Ms. Langelier lost several thousand dollars a month on average from gambling.