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Laura Shiel, age 42, of the town of Trumbull, turned herself in to Trumbull Police on Monday, May 22 for larceny charges after a lengthy investigation related to her actions while she was employed by the Mary J. Sherlach Counseling Center on Old Mine Road, said Lt. Brian Weir, of the Trumbull Police.
Weir said Trumbull Town officials became suspicious when they found revenues for the counseling center were lower than projected by thousands of dollars.
An audit was then conducted by an internal auditor through the Trumbull Board of Finance which discovered that Shiel, had misappropriated over $14,000 from the Town of Trumbull's Mary J. Sherlach Counseling Center, Weir said.
The loss was discovered after a significant amount of cash receipts were found, that had not been deposited, dating back to 2020, Weir said. Trumbull detectives began the investigation based on the findings of the audit, which identified Shiel’s involvement.
Shiel, who was hired by the town as an administrative assistant in 2019, was to handle the revenue coming into the center and was responsible to take cash and check payments that came in from clients.
Shiel was then to make bank deposits of the center’s revenue. These funds were to be deposited based on town policy, however, many deposits were never made, Weir said.
Shiel was charged with two counts of larceny.
She was released on a Promise to Appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Tuesday, May 30.
The Mary J. Sherlach Counseling Center provides a therapeutic clinical setting for individual and family therapy, group therapy, and crisis intervention. \
The Center is owned by the town of Trumbull and is operated by the town of Trumbull employees.
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