Judge's wife gets 9-18 months

TOWANDA, Pa. (AP) -- The wife of a Bradford County judge was sentenced to nine to 18 months in jail for stealing $520,000 from the Canton Borough Water and Sewer Authority.
Brenda K. Mott, a former bookkeeper and office manager for the authority, was also ordered Friday to pay $660,000 in restitution before she was led from a crowded courtroom in handcuffs.
Mott, 51, of Canton, told the court she spent the bulk of the money paying off credit card bills for everyday purchases such as gifts, clothes and personal items.
"But never anything big," she said.
Officials accused Mott of writing unauthorized checks from the authority payable to herself, then forging signatures on those checks and depositing them in her account.
Bank deposits
Barry Moran, a special investigator with the state attorney general's office, said an examination of Mott family bank accounts revealed deposits of more than $1.7 million between 1998 and 2004.
State and private auditors documented only the $520,000 as stolen. Prosecutors gave no reason for the discrepancy.
Authority manager Lester Hilfiger said records showed irregularities dating back to 1994. Hilfiger testified that the authority had to pay $50,000 for a special audit to determine where, when and how much money was stolen.
The authority also had to borrow $150,000 in 2004 to cover payroll and other operational expenses.
Mott is married to Bradford County Judge John Mott.
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