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Former Brimfield treasurer Kirsten Weldon

(JOHN SUCHOCKI / THE REPUBLICAN FILE)

SPRINGFIELD — Former Brimfield treasurer Kirsten Weldon was led from a Hampden Superior Court courtroom Thursday afternoon to begin serving 90 days in the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee.

Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder sentenced Weldon, who had pleaded guilty previously to embezzlement, to two years at that facility, but ordered 90 days be served and the rest suspended with three years probation.

Kinder ordered Weldon, 44, of Brimfield, to pay restitution of $80,868, the amount she embezzled, to the town.

She resigned in April 2013 while an audit of town accounts was under way. She had served as town treasurer since 2003.

Weldon was charged with stealing town money from 2006 until early 2013, according to state and local police and the Hampden district attorney. Her salary as treasurer was $38,000.

Assistant District Attorney James M. Forsyth asked for a two-year sentence to the Chicopee jail, with one year to be served and the rest suspended with five years probation.

Defense lawyer Michael O. Jennings asked Kinder to sentence Weldon to probation without any jail time.

Weldon spoke at the sentencing hearing, saying her reasons for doing what she did are no justification, that she looked for the easy solution to financial problems. She said she needed to apologize to the people of her hometown Brimfield who trusted her with their money. She also apologized to her family and thanked them for her support

Weldon said she was ready to accept her punishment, but asked for mercy.

Jennings said Weldon and her family are willing and able to pay the restitution, but have been waiting to see a few things clarified, including the amount of Weldon's retirement fund that will be taken for restitution.

Jennings said the law states if the crime involves a loss to the town, the employee's contributions will go to the town, but he needs to know if the interest earned is also applied to restitution.

Forsyth said he asked for the sentence because the breach of trust was major, and happened over a protracted period of time.

Jennings said Weldon took the money after a great deal of financial pressure at home. He said the embezzlement was not accomplished by "sophisticated means," but involved taking money in her possession, much of it cash from different departments.

Jennings said it was not money "that was spent on high living," such as clothes, cars or trips.

"This became easy and it solved the immediate problem and here she is and she knows it," he said.

Several Brimfield selectmen and Police Chief Charles T. Kuss were in the courtroom for the sentencing, but declined to give victim witness statements or ask for a certain sentence.