BOSTON, Oct. 5, 2016—The former bookkeeper at a Dorchester-based labor union has been ordered to pay more than $150,000 in restitution for thefts she undertook by exploiting access to their checkbook, accounting software, and credit card, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

MARIE ESTHER LAFONTANT (D.O.B. 8/6/76) of Winchester pleaded guilty on Sept. 26 to three counts of larceny over $250 and one count of making false entry on corporate books for the theft of $154,847 from her employer, the United Association of Journeyman Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 12, between 2011 and 2013.

Yesterday, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Robert Gordon imposed a sentence of one year in the Suffolk County House of Correction followed by 10 years of probation and entered an order that she make full restitution. Lafontant is currently facing similar charges out of Middlesex County for additional thefts.

At prosecutors’ request, Gordon also ordered that Lafontant seek the court’s permission before she take on any employment that would grant her access to funds or financial information and that she inform any such employer of her conviction.

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney George Barker of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that Lafontant printed checks drawn on Local 12’s bank accounts, intercepted Local 12’s checks to third parties and deposited them into accounts she controlled, and made unauthorized purchases on Local 12’s credit card.

“These funds were intended to provide plumbers and gasfitters with training, certification, and retirement benefits,” Conley said. “The defendant took that money from working men and women and put it toward her own ends. Fortunately, the union leadership detected the thefts before they suffered even greater losses.”

The investigation by State Police detectives, Suffolk prosecutors, and investigators from the DA’s office and US Department of Labor revealed that Lafontant made seven charges totaling $6,150 using a union credit card; intercepted eight checks from the union to outside merchants totaling $20,361 and made them payable to a bank account she controlled; and drafted 20 checks drawn on union accounts totaling $128,346 and deposited them into the same account.

The investigation further revealed that Lafontant had used the union’s accounting software to revise entries for the checks’ payee or expense type, allowing her to escape notice until accounting staff performed a detailed examination of the records.

The fraudulent checks and charges were made between October 2011 and April 2013, when union accountants discovered a payment to Amour Creole, a business with which the union had no ties. Lafontant is listed as the president, secretary, and director of Amour Creole in the organization’s articles of incorporation.

Lafontant was represented by attorney Robert Zanello.

–30–

All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.