SAD 77 to auction ex-worker’s estate District seeks to regain embezzled funds

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EAST MACHIAS – The entire estate of Harriet Webb, the former SAD 77 bookkeeper who in 1996 was ordered to prison for seven years for having embezzled more than $300,000 from the district, will be auctioned off Saturday, April 2.

The proceeds will go to the four-town district to make good on a $341,669 civil judgment that SAD 77 won in 1999 against Webb.

Webb, believed to be 57, died in September.

The auction will take place at the Elm Street School in East Machias. A preview of the auction items will be from 9 to 11 a.m., followed by the auction of household contents at 11 a.m.

The auction includes Webb’s house in Machias. She lived near the railroad tracks at 9 Bowker St.

The house will be auctioned off at 2 p.m. at the Elm Street School. Those wishing to walk through the house can do so earlier on April 2, between 9 and 11 a.m., as well as by special appointment in advance of the auction date.

The district would like to get about $45,000 from the sale of the house, an older Victorian that is being sold in “as is” condition. The house has been vacant since Webb’s death.

The household contents are considered in good shape.

“She had some real nice furniture,” said Mae Bouchard, the SAD 77 acting superintendent, who is serving as the estate’s personal representative.

“On first look it appears to be antiques. But although there are some antique pieces in the house, most of the furniture is actually custom-made replicas.

“I think people thought there might be more furniture and valuables in the house than we actually found,” Bouchard said.

Webb was released from the Charleston Correctional Facility in October 2000 and returned home to Machias.

She was indicted in 1994 on four counts of theft, two counts of forgery and one count of theft by misapplication. She pleaded guilty to one count of theft under a plea agreement with Washington County District Attorney Michael Povich.

She had been accused of diverting school funds by falsely making, endorsing or altering 448 checks over a three-year period. Some of the checks were drawn on the school district’s general fund and others were drawn on the payroll account.

In October 1996, Webb was sentenced to 10 years in prison and four years’ probation. Superior Court Justice Francis Marsano suspended three years of the sentence and ordered Webb to pay restitution to the four-town school district.

SAD 77 comprises East Machias, Machiasport, Cutler and Whiting.

However, residents of East Machias will vote Monday, March 21, whether to withdraw from the district. If more than two-thirds of the voters approve the proposal to withdraw and establish the town’s own municipal school board, that separation would take place on June 30.

If East Machias does withdraw, an agreement between the town and SAD 77 would give East Machias 37.5 percent of the proceeds from the Webb estate auction.

Webb’s annual salary was $22,000 at the time she was dismissed from her bookkeeping job in 1992. She had started working for the district in 1984.

Betty Jordan, then SAD 77 superintendent, began to look into Webb’s record keeping after she took over as superintendent in 1992. Jordan hired an accountant to go over the books and placed Webb on administrative leave after she found duplicate payments that had not been authorized.

There also were checks made out to substitute teachers that didn’t match up with the dates they actually worked.

In a 2000 courthouse appearance in which Webb tried to account for her spending, she said that she had bought several expensive paintings from artists in the area.

Some of those paintings continue to hang in the SAD 77 office today. Those will be removed from the walls to become part of the auction’s offerings.

Nell Walton of St. Croix Valley Antiques and Auctions of Calais will serve as the auctioneer. Wayne Mayo of Katchall Downeast Auctions is serving as the sale manager.

There will be more than 350 lots offered, including items from some additional Down East homes.

“This woman must have been quite colorful,” Walton said Thursday of Webb. “She certainly had a flair and obviously loved the Victorian look.”

The house is available for showings by appointment sooner than the April 2 auction. Those who want to see it in advance can contact Katherine Berry, the agent for Pine Tree Real Estate in Robbinson. Her phone number is 454-3792.

“SAD 77 had no interest in owning a home in Machias,” Bouchard said in the district board’s decision to auction off all of the estate at once. “We have had to insure and make repairs and keep it plowed already. We decided to auction off everything at once, come what may.”

The rest of the auction goods are described at www.katchall

scvaauctions.com. China, glassware and jewelry also will be offered alongside the furniture and artwork.