Woman Who Stole $70K From East Lyme Schools To Avoid Prison: Report

EAST LYME, CT — A woman who cashed fraudulent checks and stole money from an East Lyme Board of Education bank account is expected to avoid prison at sentencing, according to The Day.

Heidi Cecilio, 29, pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree larceny. In exchange for the plea, she will be sentenced in December to a fully suspended prison sentence and five years of probation, The Day reported.

East Lyme police launched an investigation May 18 following a complaint from the town's finance director stating that multiple fraudulent checks were cashed at banks in Bronx, NY and Moreno Valley, CA.

Police initially charged Cecilio with first-degree larceny after discovering she had cashed $74,650 in checks from the town’s Board of Education account. She attempted and failed to cash another $28,830, totaling nearly $104,000 in potential fraud.

Police reviewed the cashed checks and found they were fraudulently created using the school district's banking information and not actual Town of East Lyme checks.