Tyngsboro tax official indicted on theft charges

A Tyngsboro town official who allegedly spent more than a decade stealing hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from the town’s finance department has been indicted on larceny and money laundering charges, officials announced yesterday.

Nancy Dutton, 56, who worked as the town’s assistant tax collector and deputy tax collector and was placed on paid administrative leave in June, was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury on five counts of larceny and one count of money laundering in connection with the alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars dating back to 2004, Tyngsboro police Chief Richard Howe and Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan said in a statement.

Ryan’s office, state police and Tyngsboro cops launched an investigation into “accounting irregularities” uncovered by financial staffers that found Dutton “was allegedly using her position to take tax monies meant for the town and then covering up her actions by falsifying records,” Howe and Ryan said.

The missing funds, which were discovered shortly after a change in leadership and software at the town’s finance department, have led to several changes aimed at preventing similar thefts in the future, including upgrading the accounting software and tighter managerial control over financial transactions.

Dutton is expected to be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court.