By Richard Chumney
New Haven Register, Conn.
(TNS)
(Sept. 1) NEW HAVEN, CT — A former bookkeeper and office manager at a Hartford law firm pleaded guilty to fraud and tax offenses Tuesday for embezzling more than $750,000, federal prosecutors said.
Heather Murdock, 58, of Ellington, CT, entered the plea during a hearing in New Haven federal court, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut David X. Sullivan.
Sullivan said Murdock used the firm’s bookkeeping software to generate hundreds of fake checks that were made payable to herself between approximately 2010 and 2022.
“To conceal her embezzlement, Murdock doctored the bookkeeping system entries to make it appear that the checks had been issued to legitimate vendors,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said Murdock forged the firm owner’s signature before depositing the forged checks into her own bank account. He said she stole approximately $578,279 from the firm through the yearslong scheme.
Additionally, Murdock stole $175,559 in cash rental payments made by tenants of properties owned by the firm’s owner, and doctored references in the firm’s bookkeeping system to conceal the theft, Sullivan said.
She also failed to pay federal income taxes on the embezzled funds, substantially underreported her income in 2011 and 2012, and did not file any tax returns from 2013 to 2022, effectively underreporting her tax obligations by $225,991, according to Sullivan.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Murdock pleaded guilty to bank fraud and tax evasion. She also agreed to pay $753,838 in restitution to the victim, and $225,991 in back taxes, including penalties and interest, to the IRS.
Murdock, who has been released on a $40,000 bond, is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 1. Sullivan said the charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 35 years in prison.
Photo credit: sergeitokmakov/Pixabay
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© 2026 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.). Visit www.nhregister.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Tags: Accounting, bank fraud, bookkeepers, embezzlement, Income Taxes, tax evasion, Taxes
