Bookkeeper pleads guilty to stealing $130,000 from Barnstead and Hampton school districts
Feb. 23—A Barnstead woman who worked as a school district bookkeeper pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing more than $130,000 from the Barnstead and Hampton school districts.
According to court documents and statements made in U.S. District Court in Concord, Amy Burley, 47, processed payroll and handled invoices. She used her professional access to Barnstead School District accounts to make student loan payments, pay personal creditors, and pay for Amazon purchases charged to a Barnstead account that she controlled — for a total of $110,295.52.
After she was terminated from her job in Barnstead, Burley was hired as a bookkeeper for the Hampton School District, where she used $20,966 in district funds to pay student loans and credit card bills for herself and her family members.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1.
Her plea culminates an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Education Office of the Inspector General and the Barnstead Police Department.
The case in being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Kennedy.
