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Press Release

Michelle Rutledge Imprisoned Following Guilty Plea To Two Central Vermont Embezzlements

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Vermont

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Michelle Rutledge, 47, of Berlin, was sentenced yesterday in United States District Court in Brattleboro to 24 months of imprisonment following her guilty plea to a charge of wire fraud.  District Judge J. Garvan Murtha also ordered that Rutledge serve a three-year term of supervised release following completion of her prison sentence and pay restitution in the amount of $128,730.46.  The court directed Rutledge to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on August 19 to begin serving her sentence.    

According to the information to which she pled guilty, for more than a dozen years Rutledge served as the office manager and bookkeeper for the Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury.  For about three years, she also served as the treasurer for the Harwood Youth Hockey Association.  Between June 2007 and June 2013, Rutledge embezzled not less than $75,000 from the cider mill by using company credit cards without authorization and causing electronic transfers of cider mill funds to pay personal bills and expenses.  She also stole at least $53,000 from the Harwood Hockey Association by using credit cards without authorization and by paying personal bills with checks drawn against the Hockey Association checking account. 

This case was investigated by the Vermont State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

      Rutledge is represented by Brooks McArthur.  The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.
Updated June 22, 2015