AUGUSTA — Legal troubles continue for Patsy A. Rollins, the former Manchester town clerk imprisoned for forging residents’ signatures on U.S. Postal Service cards in August 2000.
Rollins, 58, of Sidney, is being sued by the Maine Municipal Association Property and Casualty Pool for her alleged failure to pay $80,000, as she agreed to do to settle a 2002 civil lawsuit involving missing town funds.
The settlement, signed in June 2009, was to be paid within 30 days of Rollins’ release from prison, or at a rate of $100 per month beginning the month after her release.
She was released from the Maine Correctional Center on April 13, 2010, according to Jody Breton, associate commissioner of the state Department of Corrections.
Despite being released 15 months ago, “Rollins has failed to make any payments following her release from incarceration, and therefore owes the MMA Pool the total sum of $80,000,” wrote James D. Poliquin, attorney for the association’s risk pool.
The lawsuit seeking the payment was filed earlier this month in Kennebec County Superior Court. Rollins was served with a copy of the complaint July 5, but had not sent a response to the court as of Monday.
Attempts to reach her Monday proved unsuccessful. She does not have a listed phone number, and both attorneys who previously represented her said they were unaware of the new lawsuit.
Rollins was convicted by a jury on Aug. 22, 2007, of 31 counts of aggravated forgery and sentenced to five years in prison, with all but 18 months suspended and three years’ probation.
Because Rollins received a stay pending appeal, she did not begin serving the unsuspended portion of her sentence until Jan. 22, 2009.
In the criminal case, the U.S. Postal Service cards were official notices that liens were being put on 31 properties because of unpaid taxes.
Homeowners had paid all the property taxes, even though it didn’t show up on town records. Affected residents said their credit ratings were unfairly damaged and their reputatons harmed after they had to spend time and money for corrections and suffered public embarrassment.
Getting the money from Rollins might prove difficult, however. Court documents filed with the criminal case indicate Rollins is disabled and her only source of income is a Social Security disability check.
Records at the court also show Rollins owes $775 in victims’ fees and assessments.
Conditions of probation prohibit Rollins from working in any capacity requiring her to handle money.
In the previous civil case, auditors hired by the town of Manchester determined that more than $212,000 was missing from town accounts between July 1, 1998 through Dec. 31, 2000. At the time, Rollins was tax collector, treasurer and town clerk.
The town recovered much of the money from its insurer, Maine Municipal Association Property & Casualty Pool. Then the association sued Rollins to recoup the funds.
Rollins lost her job in September 2000. She always has maintained she did nothing wrong and did not testify at her trial.
In 1999, Rollins was accused of forging a notary’s signature on almost 100 tax liens in Manchester. She was never charged in that case.
She was permitted to donate $1,000 to a local children’s camp rather than face criminal prosecution after the district attorney at the time, David Crook, said he found an absence of criminal intent.
The Maine Municipal Association canceled Rollins’ bond in June 2000 after the incident with the notary signatures, but agreed to re-bond her if she met several conditions, including attending two accounting workshops. She never met that requirement.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com
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