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YMCA Probe Targets Convicted Embezzler

Burlington, Vermont - November 4, 2003

A former town clerk who embezzled her village into bankruptcy is back at the center of a criminal investigation.

Once again the crime is embezzlement but this time the victim is the Burlington YMCA.

"We've begun an investigation with the Y-officials regarding the accounting and bookkeeping practices that were conducted for several years at the Y," says Deputy Chief Walter Decker of the Burlington Police Department.

Decker says YMCA officials called a week ago requesting an investigation into missing funds.  Police say the investigation immediately focused on the Y's former office manager who was employed for 15 years at the Y until she resigned in August under a cloud of suspicion.

"The information and the paperwork being reviewed includes the forms and submissions that would have been made by Ms. Linda Hall," says Decker.

That's Linda Hall, the former town clerk in the tiny village of Bakersfield. In 1986 she pled guilty to embezzling more than $200,000 from the village, more than enough to bankrupt the town and force villagers to hold fundraisers to make ends meet.

Hall served two years of a three years sentence and was released on probation with orders to get a job and repay Bakersfield at $80 per week.

She found her job even before she got out of prison, The Burlington YMCA hired her knowing her full history.

"She came originally as part of a court-ordered supervisory program. About five years ago her position changed when she was elevated to the role of the manager here at the Y," says Tim Rollins, YMCA Executive Director.

YMCA Executive Director Tim Rollins says office workers noticed financial irregularities in July. When Hall was confronted on August first she admitted she had been embezzling for about four years.

Several attempts to reach Linda Hall at her South Burlington residence for her side of the story were unsuccessful.

Brian Joyce - Channel 3 News