Ex-Mine Hill Fire Dept. treasurer repaying her theft

A woman who stole $330,000 from the Mine Hill Fire Department while serving as its treasurer has been abiding by all terms of her acceptance into a program that allows defendants an early release from prison and pays 50 percent of her wages toward restitution, according to a court review Tuesday.

Lisa Ann Ayers, now 41, had pleaded guilty in Superior Court, Morristown, in 2013 to stealing $330,000 from the fire department between 2007 and February 2013. In negotiations between the state Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted the case, and Ayers’ attorney, an agreement was reached for Ayers to pay back $228,631 because she insisted she routinely repaid some stolen funds -- about $100,000 worth -- while continuing to steal.

Ayers was sentenced on Jan. 10, 2014 to three years in prison and ordered to repay the fire department, which had just $445 in its coffers after her stint as treasurer. She applied for early release from prison under the state’s Intensive Supervision Program (ISP), under which defendants agree to stringent rules such as maintaining a full-time job, abiding by a curfew, staying drug and alcohol-free, and performing community service.

ISP was launched in 1983 in New Jersey as a way of reducing prison populations.

An ISP panel of judges on June 16, 2014 “re-sentenced” Ayers from prison to the program and she immediately was freed. During a review of Ayers’ case Tuesday by an ISP panel in Morristown, she appeared in court with her supervising court services officer who described Ayers to the judges as “a real pleasure to work with.”

The officer said that Ayers is fulfilling her community service requirements and commits 50 percent of the wages she earns as an administrative assistant at an automobile dealership toward restitution. The exact amount of restitution that Ayers has paid to date was not disclosed; an ISP supervisor in Trenton said individual cases cannot be commented on.

“It’s a lot of money. How are you going to pay that back?” ISP Judge Salem Vincent Ahto, who is a Superior Court judge, asked Ayers on Tuesday.

“I just keep working,” she replied. Ahto and ISP Judge N. Peter Conforti continued Ayers on the program, with Ahto noting that she has credit for 418 days between prison and ISP.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com