Former Warren Animal Control Officer Heidy Garrity pleaded no contest last week to stealing thousands of dollars from the Warren Animal Shelter over a two-year period, keeping the money in a secret bank account that she controlled.

Ms. Garrity, of Andrews Court in Bristol, appeared in Rhode Island Superior Court last Wednesday, March 30, pleading no contest to an amended charge of larceny under $1,500. That had been reduced from an original charge of embezzlement.

As part of her plea agreement, Ms. Garrity was sentenced to one year in jail, suspended with probation, ordered to pay $6,193 in restitution to the Town of Warren, officially resigned from her position with the Town of Warren, and agreed to “cash out” her previous contributions to the state pension system. AG Spokeswoman Amy Kempe said Monday Ms. Garrity paid her restitution to the town “immediately.”

The Warren Animal Shelter has been running with an interim animal control officer since Ms. Garrity left her post following an accident in the town van in the fall of 2014. She was arrested and subsequently suspended on the embezzlement and theft charges last June.

With Ms. Garrity’s official resignation, Warren is now free to hire a permanent replacement. Deputy Warren Police Chief Joseph Loiselle, who supervises the animal control position, said Monday that the permanent opening was posted last week and was to remain open until this Tuesday. Members of the United Steelworkers Union in Warren are eligible to apply for the position and under union rules, the job is awarded to the applicant with the most seniority. Currently, Warren Police Department dispatcher Laura O’Donnell is serving as the interim ACO.

Terms of Ms. Garrity’s pension settlement were not disclosed, and officials from the Employees Retirement System of Rhode Island were not immediately available to determine how much Ms. Garrity withdrew from the system as part of her settlement. However, Ms. Kempe said the Town of Warren supported last week’s plea agreement.

The case against Ms. Garrity began in early 2015. After hearing complaints, police and AG officials began an investigation that ultimately determined that Ms. Garrity had opened and kept a bank account unknown to town officials, using it to deposit — and later spend on herself — more than $9,000 worth of donations meant for the Warren Animal Shelter.

According to an affidavit filed in June 3, 2015, police received evidence in February 2015 that a $1,000 donation to the shelter had been deposited into an account at Bank of Newport. That account existed “without the town’s knowledge,” Deputy Chief Loiselle wrote.

When authorities learned about the account and donationm they executed a search warrant requesting all financial documents pertaining to the account.

“An examination ... revealed over $9,000 worth of checks what were made payable to the Warren Animal Shelter were deposited into this account without the town’s knowledge,” Deputy Chief Loiselle wrote.

Ms. Garrity left the job in September 2013 after injuring herself in a minor traffic accident in the town's animal control van. Police said illegal deposits into the Bank Newport account began on Oct. 16, 2012, 11 months prior to the accident, and continued until March 7, 2014.

Deputy Chief Loiselle wrote in the affidavit that the funds in the Bank of Newport account were spent by Ms. Garrity on “various merchandise, services and other, for the defendant’s use.”

Ms. Garrity was arrested a day after the affidavit was filed. She was charged with one count of embezzlement of over $1,500, one count of unlawful appropriation of funds, and one count of larceny over $1,500.

She had been suspended without pay from the Town of Warren since her arrest.