“We had confidence in her”… How a Tarn town hall secretary managed to embezzle €140,000 of public money

Sandrine M.'s little adventure lasted six years. Until Sonia Richard-Munoz, the mayor of Mirandol, a peaceful village in Ségala with a thousand inhabitants, came across by chance in June 2023 the relaunch of a supplier. By going through the invoices, the elected official discovers countless purchases of products paid for by the municipality but delivered directly to the home of the general secretary of the town hall.

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The trial of the dishonest civil servant, who had been stationed in Mirandol since 2015, was held this Thursday, November 21 before the Albi criminal court following a long investigation carried out by the gendarmes of the research brigade. 'Albi, in conjunction with the general directorate of public finances (DGFIP).

Damage estimated at €140,000

At the bar of the court, Sandrine M., originally from Normandy and mother of 3 children, admitted the essential facts but was not very talkative. The president of the hearing, Thomas Godon, nevertheless detailed what he was accused of. Purchases of products for her personal account, which she ordered using the electronic signature of Sonia Richard-Munoz before disappearing the invoices. Money from the Mirandol fair committee, which she paid into a town hall bank account which was no longer used before transferring it to her own account. The municipality's fuel card, which he used to refuel his personal car. Or the checks from residents who wanted to buy burial plots for their deceased loved ones, which she cashed herself after changing the order.

In total, the damage estimated by the town hall and by investigators is around €140,000 over a period of six years, between 2017 and 2023. The products purchased range from sporting goods to Decathlon (€15,000 gift cards) to multimedia devices and household appliances, including bottles of champagne and furniture. She resold most of the items online but also kept some for herself and her family, like this iPhone “gifted” to one of her sons.

“It was a desire, an impulse,” she will simply explain to the magistrates. “Since 2017… It was a long drive,” quipped President Godon, for whom the offense was on the contrary well “thought out” by the former town hall secretary. “It is difficult to believe Madam's statements,” added Deputy Prosecutor Murielle Costa in her requisitions, then explaining that the offenses of breach of trust, fraud against a public figure and forgery of a check had materialized.

Absence d’excuses

Present at the hearing, the mayor of Mirandol, for her part, described her former employee as “a civil servant in whom we trusted” and recalled the damage suffered both for the finances and the image of the village. The municipality's lawyer, Me Deltell, regretted the lack of excuses from the defendant. Dismissed from her position, the mother now works at Tarn Habitat and says she has been consulting a psychiatrist for a year to treat her “obsessive and compulsive behavior”.

In defense, Me Hudrisier denounced “the failure of controls” on the part of the town hall and the DGFIP. “She clicks, she buys, there’s something easy. I think that’s the trap for Madame: it’s too simple.” Contesting the amount of the estimated damage, he also asked the court to reject the civil action of the mayor of Mirandol, for lack of deliberation by the municipal council allowing him to take legal action.

The court found the defendant guilty of all the offenses and sentenced her to 18 months in prison, 9 months of which were suspended on probation, including obligations to provide care, work and compensate the civil party. The firm part of the sentence is carried out at home under an electronic bracelet. The former town hall secretary is also banned for 10 years from carrying out an accounting activity involving the management or manipulation of funds.