Thursday, March 11, 2010

Betrayal in Briarcliffe

It is now a familiar image.

A woman being escorted by county detectives, in this case with a sweater draped over her hands and arms, concealing the handcuffs. That was the scene last October when Lisa Marie Butler was arrested for stealing more than $100,000 from the Briarcliffe Fire co.

Butler was back in court yesterday to be sentenced for the theft.

But a couple of questions remain.

One, why is it so often women that get popped for doing this. We’ve had a series of stories over the past couple of years with women from any number of professions ripping off their employers. Governments have been hit, as have school districts and private employers.

This time it was a volunteer fire company, where Butler served as treasurer.

The fire company feels betrayed by one of their own.

But there is still a bit of mystery surrounding Butler’s case.

She appeared repentant in court yesterday, shedding tears as she vowed to pay the money back.

A prosecutor aptly said Butler used the fire company accounts as “her own personal ATM.”

But for all of Butler’s penitence, she was not exactly forthcoming over where all that money went.

But vowed to Judge Edward Zetusky to “pay back every cent. I will rectify what I did.”

She also said she wants a chance to rebuild trust with the fire company.

Maybe she can start by telling them where all that money went.

She’ll have a couple of months to think it over. She’ll be doing three months in Delaware County Prison, to be followed by seven years of probation, along with 103 hours of community service.

It will take a lot longer than that to repair the damage done to the volunteers.

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