Mass. library employee sentenced in theft case

BOSTON (AP) - A former Saugus public library worker has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing more than $800,000 from the library.

Sixty-six-year-old Linda Duffy also was ordered Thursday in federal court to pay over $965,000 in restitution.

Duffy pleaded guilty in September to four counts of mail fraud, 10 counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated identity theft. Duffy's attorney Frederick Riley told the Daily Item of Lynn that government's evidence was so overwhelming he and Duffy decided on the guilty plea.

She was arrested in 2011. Federal prosecutors alleged Duffy diverted charitable donations, library fees and fines into a decoy bank account over seven years and tapped it for personal spending. Prosecutors said she tricked a General Electric Co. charitable foundation into donating more than $400,000 to the library to match non-existent donations.

Cox Media Group