Torrington soup kitchen director pleads guilty

Accused of falsifying community service hours for cash, gifts

The executive director of a Torrington soup kitchen has been sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to falsely reporting community service hours in exchange for cash and gift cards, officials said.

Lisa Hagemen, 56, appeared in court earlier this month and pleaded guilty to two counts of fabricating physical evidence as part of a plea deal, according to Litchfield Judicial District State’s Attorney David R. Shannon.

Pursuant to the plea deal, Hageman was sentenced to five years in prison, execution suspended, followed by five years or probation — meaning she won’t spend any time in prison.

Hageman, who was executive director of the Community Kitchen in Torrington, which provides hot meals to those in need in the Torrington area, allegedly accepted gift cards and cash from people who wanted to show proof that they performed community service hours without actually performing any, officials said.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit for Hageman, a man who was required to perform 125 hours of community service as part of a pending criminal case in Litchfield Superior Court gave Hagemen two gift cards to BJ’S Wholesale that were worth $1,000.

In exchange, Hagemen wrote a letter confirming that the man had done 150 hours of community service at the Community Kitchen, the Division of Criminal Justice said in a statement.

The letter was provided to the Office of Adult Probation in August 2023 “to indicate that he had completed the court-ordered community service hours when, in fact, he had not completed any of those hours.”

That September, Hageman provided a community service letter to another person, stating that he had completed 125 hours of community service even though he had not performed any community service.

In exchange, the man gave her $1,000 in cash in a transaction captured on audio and video recording, the warrant affidavit said.

Hageman was arrested on Oct. 3, 2023, by inspectors from the Office of the State’s Attorney in the Judicial District of Litchfield, according to court records.

She has also been ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution, officials said.