Employee at Hebron tax collector's office accused of stealing more than $85,000 from town

An employee from the Town of Hebron tax collector’s office is accused of stealing more than $85,000 from the town and has been charged with larceny and computer crime, according to Connecticut State Police.

The conclusion came months after the employee, 53-year-old Adrian Maclean of Lisbon, admitted she stole $6,310 from taxpayers in July.

Hebron Town Manager Andrew Tierney reported to state police on July 21, 2025, that Maclean had stolen money from the office vault. Maclean was on medical leave at the time. It was later determined that $6,310 was missing from the vault, an arrest warrant stated.

Hebron’s finance director asked Maclean about the missing funds, and Maclean admitted she “had taken the cash for personal use and failed to properly deposit the money,” according to the arrest warrant.

Three days later, Maclean sent Tierney an email saying that she wanted to resign and that she had stolen $6,310 from town taxpayers. She “expressed remorse,” the arrest warrant stated.

On July 25, the Town of Hebron received a bank check from Maclean for $6,310 as restitution. On August 26, a state trooper tried to speak with Maclean, but she declined. Then, on Sept. 3, a judge authorized an arrest warrant for Maclean on a second-degree larceny charge.

Maclean then turned herself in to state police on Sept. 11. She was arrested and released on the condition that she appear in court on Sept. 29.

An investigation by forensic accountants in January revealed Maclean had manipulated the town’s computer system to steal the money. The state’s attorney then asked for a further investigation to determine if Maclean should be charged with anything else, the arrest warrant stated.

Further investigation showed that there was a recurring pattern in which cash payments were received, initially recorded properly in the office’s software system, subsequently voided, and then reentered under “alternative terminal numbers (most notably Terminal 97) without assignment of a payment method,” the arrest warrant stated.

This method allowed Maclean to conceal the diversion of funds, according to the arrest warrant.

There were several other irregularities found in the investigation, including unprocessed departmental payment batches and taxpayer overpayments with no refunds issued, the arrest warrant stated.

Investigators ultimately found that $85,056 was stolen between 2021 and 2025. The arrest warrant said that additional losses likely occurred but could not be quantified due to missing records, limitations in archived data, and incomplete documentation.

After that further investigation, Maclean was also charged with computer crime in the first degree.

Maclean was taken into custody on March 9.

Her bail is set at $200,000, and she’s scheduled to appear at Rockville Superior Court on March 30 at 9:30 a.m.

Source Link