White River Junction
Tara Monsante, 42, of South Royalton, was arrested on May 24 when she tried to use a stolen driver’s license to withdraw money at the People’s United Bank branch in Windsor, according to police.
Monsante, who worked under the alias Amy Gorman, is accused of stealing cash and checks from the customers of a cleaning company where she was a temporary employee, according to affidavits filed in Windsor Superior Court in White River Junction. She also is alleged to have stolen the driver’s license of a client in South Royalton and used it to access funds in the woman’s bank account.
Woodstock police began investigating the alleged thefts in mid-April, when a Woodstock woman reported that a missing blank check from her checkbook had been written out to a person whose name she did not recognize and cashed at a bank in Connecticut, according to the affidavit. The woman told police that a cleaning service had been at her home recently.
Woodstock police contacted the owner of the cleaning company, Jasmine Benoit, who told an investigator that at least three other clients recently had complained of cash or checks that had gone missing after a visit by Benoit’s cleaning crew, according to the affidavit. This included another check that also had been cashed at a bank in Connecticut.
When police obtained a still image of one of the bank transactions in Connecticut, the woman cashing the check was initially identified by Benoit as Gorman, a temp worker, according to the affidavit. Benoit told police that the woman she knew as Gorman had worked in all the homes where there had been complaints of theft.
The checks cashed in Connecticut were not made out to Gorman but rather to another woman, Diana Huntley, who lives in South Royalton, according to the affidavits. After being contacted by authorities and asked to review her bank records, Huntley identified about $4,400 in suspicious activity on her account and most or all of the suspected fraud had occurred at banks in Connecticut.
On May 24, Huntley told an investigator that she was acquainted with the woman know as Gorman, who had cleaned her house numerous times. Huntley also told police that her driver’s license had gone missing in February.
At that point, Huntley froze her bank account.
Later that same day, Monsante was taken into custody while allegedly trying to use Huntley’s ID to withdraw money from the bank in Windsor after bank workers alerted police, according to the affidavits.
On May 25, Woodstock police went to Woodstock to interview Monsante, who insisted her real name was Amy Gorman, even though police told her there were no records of someone with the name and date of birth she provided, according to an affidavit.
It wasn’t until later that night that authorities were able to confirm Monsante’s identity, and they discovered she had a fugitive from justice warrant for her arrest out of Grafton County in New Hampshire in connection with a 2015 conviction for theft and credit card fraud.
During the course of the investigation, police also were able to identify Monsante’s boyfriend, who is from Connecticut.
Monsante is being held without bail at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on the fugitive from justice warrant. Court documents indicate New Hampshire officials placed her on escape status in June 2015 after she didn’t return to her approved housing.
Monsante has a status conference scheduled in Vermont next Tuesday. She faces felony charges of identify theft and grand larceny and multiple misdemeanor counts including petty larceny, forgery, making false reports, resisting arrest and possessing stolen property.
Deputy Windsor County State’s Attorney Karen Oelschlaeger, who is prosecuting the case, said Monsante has waived extradition. New Hampshire authorities are slated to pick her up prior to her hearing next week so she can answer to the escape charge.
Monsante is being represented by Erik Braghirol. He didn’t return a request for comment.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.