Accountant sent to jail for defrauding multiple Massachusetts towns
BOSTON (AP) — An accountant who stole nearly $1 million from multiple Massachusetts towns he worked for has been sentenced to more than three years in jail, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Justin Cole, 40, of Uxbridge, pleaded guilty to 18 charges including multiple counts of larceny and was sentenced last week in Worcester Superior Court, the state attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Cole stole the bulk of the money while working as Uxbridge’s town accountant from 2012 until 2017, authorities said.
He stole from Uxbirdge by submitting and approving dozens of false invoices and related submissions that caused the town to pay for services not provided.
Cole was also the principal of Bay State Municipal Accounting Group, which provided financial services to towns, and in that capacity also defrauded Wenham, Millville and Monterey through fraudulent billing, prosecutors said.
In all, he stole more than $930,000, prosecutors said.
Some of the money went to paying his company’s rent and equipment.
In addition to the jail time, Cole was sentenced to three years of probation and barred from performing any financial services for any person or entity.
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