Friday, April 26, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
DEPEYSTER -- DePeyster Town Clerk and Tax Collector Michelle Sheppard, who has admitted she falsified her personal town and county tax payments, has been arrested. An audit and investigation by the …
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DEPEYSTER -- DePeyster Town Clerk and Tax Collector Michelle Sheppard, who has admitted she falsified her personal town and county tax payments, has been arrested.
An audit and investigation by the state comptroller’s office led to the arrest today.
Sheppard, 43, was charged with nine counts of tampering with public records in the first degree, a class D felony, and official misconduct, a misdemeanor, for crimes dating back to 2011 and amounting to a total of $4,303, according to a press release from the comptroller’s office.
As tax collector, Sheppard is responsible for recording, depositing, remitting and reporting all real property tax collected in a timely and accurate manner.
“On nine different occasions Mrs. Sheppard made entries in to the record keeping program for the town indicating payments for her personal property tax was paid when in fact the taxes were not paid,” an announcement from the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said.
Sheppard was brought before Canton Town Justice James Monroe for her first appearance and was released to the supervision of the county Probation Department.
Her actions were uncovered during an audit and investigation by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s staff, which noticed discrepancies in the town books and obtained a confession. Sheppard has since repaid the bulk of her delinquent tax bills.
“Day after day, Ms. Sheppard watched her friends and neighbors pay their taxes. Yet she decided she deserved a free ride, in a blatant violation of her public duty,” DiNapoli said. “I thank District Attorney Mary Rain and the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work and partnership with my staff to bring this individual to justice.”
“It is always a pleasure working with our law enforcement partners in the Comptroller’s Office because they do such a thorough job investigating their cases, which makes my job as a prosecutor easier,” Rain said. “Finding corruption in government may be difficult, but it’s important to maintain the public’s confidence that it will be detected and prosecuted.”
