News  Former Ashburnham library director pleads guilty to embezzlement

On January 29, 2018, the former director of the Ashburnham public library pled guilty in Worcester Superior Court to embezzling over $53,000 from the library.

Cheryl Paul-Bradley, 55, of Troy, New Hampshire, pled to one count of embezzlement by a municipal official, two counts of forgery and two counts of uttering. Worcester Superior Court Judge Daniel Wrenn ordered Ms. Paul-Bradley to serve three years of probation and waive her pension. Ms. Paul-Bradley is also prohibited from acting as a fiduciary in any capacity. Judge Wrenn also ordered Ms. Paul-Bradley to pay restitution of $19,556 to the Town of Ashburnham. In 2014, during an interview with accountants for the town, Ms. Paul-Bradley produced envelopes with approximately $33,000 in cash from a drawer at the library. Investigators found that Ms. Paul-Bradley had obtained $33,000 in cash from two of her own bank accounts earlier that day.

Ms. Paul-Bradley was indicted in March 2016, following a joint investigation by the Office of the Inspector General and State Police detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office.

The joint investigation found that between March 2010 and July 2014, Ms. Paul-Bradley stole money from the Stevens Memorial Library in Ashburnham by making cash withdrawals from a library bank account, and by forging and cashing checks.

For more information see the Worcester County District Attorney's press release.