A former Hudson municipal bureaucrat has been arrested for allegedly stealing $1.1 million from the suburban town of 5,000.
Hudson’s former Town Manager, Louise Léger Villandré, faces 19 fraud-related charges for misdeeds she allegedly committed between 1997 until her retirement in April 2013.
"She was General Manager, Town Manager, she was Greffier, or Town Clerk, and Treasurer all at the same time," said Mayor Ed Prevost. "I understand prior to the municipal court leaving Hudson she was in charge of that. So she was a very powerful lady."
Villandré was arrested Thursday morning by the provincial UPAC anti-corruption police squad.
According to a press release issued by the provincial police agency, Villandré would sometimes take cheques written to the city and deposit them into her own account.
The investigation began in March 2013 after errors were made on paycheques to town officials.
That same year it was revealed that former Hudson Mayor Michael Elliot had an unpaid city tax bill of $64,800, dating back nine years, a sum he vowed to pay.
Mayor Ed Prevost then launched an internal investigation into corruption in the municipality.
"It's been hanging over our heads for quite a while. Over a year now. I've been getting a little antsy," said Prevost. "The tax payers of Hudson have been getting a little antsy because we were dwelling on the past and not spending enough time dwelling on the future."
Villandré is scheduled to appear in Valleyfield court on December 10.
