State to Offer Guillet a Plea Deal

Former tax collector is expected to be offered a plea bargain agreement at her next court date, July 18, her attorney told the Valley Independent Sentinel on Thursday. Her attorney, Dominick Thomas, refused to release details of the agreement with the online newspaper and said he hasn't seen the official offer.

“We had some discussions in (the judge’s) chambers (today)," Thomas told the Sentinel Thursday, adding that he's not yet certain Guillet will accept the plea deal. "We went back and forth and discussed various positions we had."

Guillet, 62, is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the tax office in Oxford where she served in the elected position for more than 20 years. 

Following a two-year investigation, the Connecticut State Police Major Crimes Squad with six counts of first-degree forgery and one count of first-degree larceny. State police, in an affidavit, stated Guillet stole a little more than $240,000 from taxpayers. However, the town has also filed a civil lawsuit against Guillet contending that an investigation by a committee of local officials found that she stole at least $670,000. Some officials believe she stole more. The civil case is being held in abeyance until the criminal case is resolved. 

In another new development in the case, the town has discovered a document that officials believe helps further explain how Guillet hid a lot of tax receipts to cover up her elaborate stealing scheme. The Board of Selectmen was expected to discuss the document with the public at its meeting Wednesday night, but the discussion was tabled because Oxford Finance Director Jim Hliva was not at the meeting to discuss the document in detail.

Thousands of people in town - some of whom no longer live in Oxford and some of whom are deceased - show up on a even though they paid their taxes on time and in full. The reason town documents show that they are delinquent is because Guillet did not credit their accounts so she could make it appear as if people just didn't pay their taxes; she could then steal without anyone noticing, First Selectman George Temple has said.

The town has filed a with a Superior Court judge in an attempt to learn what it needs to do to remove people who paid from the delinquent list. 

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