The former town supervisor’s wife accused of stealing almost $380,000 from the town is headed to trial, according to prosecutors.
A Herkimer County Court judge during a pre-trial conference Tuesday set an Oct. 12 court date for Randi L. Matthews to answer to charges of felony grand larceny and 349 counts of forgery and tampering with public records.
She pleaded not guilty in April, recently rejected a plea offer and has been held in county jail on $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond since her arrest.
Both the prosecuting attorney, Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter, and the defense attorney, George Aney, have refused to disclose the conditions of the plea offer. Non-disclosure was requested as a stipulation of the offer, according to Aney.
A decision to hold a bench trial before a judge, or a trial by jury, will be made prior to the court date, Carpenter said. Prior comments made by Aney suggested that any trial will “absolutely” be by a jury.
The charges could carry a “significant” amount of jail time if Matthews, 42, is convicted, Carpenter said. Sentencing for the numerous charges would depend on whether the court decides to run the counts consecutively.
A recent Office of the State Comptroller audit of the time period when the alleged thefts took place may play an important role in the case.
The audit found 347 checks written to either Francis Matthews, former town supervisor, or his wife, Randi Matthews, had not been authorized by the town council. The questioned checks, from 2006 to 2009, account for $377,976.
It is unclear if members of the town council or other town officials will be asked to testify in the case. Carpenter declined to comment on any evidence involved in the case, but did say the OSC report will play an “integral” part in any trial.
Aney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
But a statement made by Randi Matthews to state police investigators has already been presented as a key element in the case for both sides.
The lengthy statement used to bring a grand jury indictment is a step-by-step account of how she committed the crime. She details how she forged the checks, hid the missing money from her husband and town officials, and gambled away all of the money at a local casino.
Aney may make a motion to have the statement kept out of the trial. “[Under] the broad grounds that they were not voluntarily given in accordance with existing statutory and case law,” Aney has said in past comments to The Telegram.
No motions have been filed related to the statement, but the circumstances of this case do not meet any of the criteria for suppression of statements, Carpenter said Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials are still investigating the missing town money, according to Carpenter.
The recent OSC report found that the theft could have been caught much earlier by the former supervisor and town council members.
If basic financial controls were in place, such as frequent audits of bank receipts, the thefts could even have been prevented, according to the report.
Law enforcement officials have reviewed the OSC report, but no additional charges have been filed, Carpenter said.
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The former town supervisor’s wife accused of stealing almost $380,000 from the town is headed to trial, according to prosecutors.
A Herkimer County Court judge during a pre-trial conference Tuesday set an Oct. 12 court date for Randi L. Matthews to answer to charges of felony grand larceny and 349 counts of forgery and tampering with public records.
She pleaded not guilty in April, recently rejected a plea offer and has been held in county jail on $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond since her arrest.
Both the prosecuting attorney, Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter, and the defense attorney, George Aney, have refused to disclose the conditions of the plea offer. Non-disclosure was requested as a stipulation of the offer, according to Aney.
A decision to hold a bench trial before a judge, or a trial by jury, will be made prior to the court date, Carpenter said. Prior comments made by Aney suggested that any trial will “absolutely” be by a jury.
The charges could carry a “significant” amount of jail time if Matthews, 42, is convicted, Carpenter said. Sentencing for the numerous charges would depend on whether the court decides to run the counts consecutively.
A recent Office of the State Comptroller audit of the time period when the alleged thefts took place may play an important role in the case.
The audit found 347 checks written to either Francis Matthews, former town supervisor, or his wife, Randi Matthews, had not been authorized by the town council. The questioned checks, from 2006 to 2009, account for $377,976.
It is unclear if members of the town council or other town officials will be asked to testify in the case. Carpenter declined to comment on any evidence involved in the case, but did say the OSC report will play an “integral” part in any trial.
Aney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
But a statement made by Randi Matthews to state police investigators has already been presented as a key element in the case for both sides.
The lengthy statement used to bring a grand jury indictment is a step-by-step account of how she committed the crime. She details how she forged the checks, hid the missing money from her husband and town officials, and gambled away all of the money at a local casino.
Aney may make a motion to have the statement kept out of the trial. “[Under] the broad grounds that they were not voluntarily given in accordance with existing statutory and case law,” Aney has said in past comments to The Telegram.
No motions have been filed related to the statement, but the circumstances of this case do not meet any of the criteria for suppression of statements, Carpenter said Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials are still investigating the missing town money, according to Carpenter.
The recent OSC report found that the theft could have been caught much earlier by the former supervisor and town council members.
If basic financial controls were in place, such as frequent audits of bank receipts, the thefts could even have been prevented, according to the report.
Law enforcement officials have reviewed the OSC report, but no additional charges have been filed, Carpenter said.
The crime, according to Randi Matthews’ statement to investigators that was used in the grand jury indictment:
Matthews said her husband, who was unable to perform his town financial responsibilities on a computer, allowed her to handle all of the town finances.
She tells of falsifying financial reports to the town council and hiding mail from her husband to cover up unpaid bills and missing funds. All the while, town funds were slowly drained as Matthews wrote checks to herself or husband and deposited the money in her bank account.
A signature stamp was even used to forge many of the checks, and she balanced the family checkbook to hide the funds at home.
Using a bank debit card, Matthews took the cash out at Turning Stone Resort and Casino, in Verona, and gambled away all of the town money.
