Linda Duffy ‘resigned to serving time’

SAUGUS – Linda Duffy was to report to prison today.A federal judge sentenced Duffy, the former Saugus library worker who stole more than $800,000, to five years in prison in January after she pleaded guilty in September to four counts of mail fraud, 10 counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated identity theft.”I think she’s just resigned to serving the time that the judge has imposed upon her,” said Duffy’s attorney Fred Riley, who confirmed Duffy’s reporting date on Thursday. “She hasn’t complained about it at all. She’s been very compliant with the instructions and has been waiting to report.”Riley, citing federal law, declined to say where Duffy would be serving her time. Riley also noted that she could receive “around 54 days per year” off her sentence for good behavior.As Duffy heads to prison today, it marks the end of a long saga for Saugus and the library, which started in July of 2011, when Duffy was first placed on paid administrative leave after Library Director Diane Wallace and the former town accountant found “financial irregularities” at the library.Duffy resigned that same month and after a long investigation, federal agents arrested her on Dec. 7, 2011. According to court documents, Duffy stole more than $800,000 from the library and the GE Matching Gifts Fund by depositing donations and other library fees into her own account. She would also get GE to match bogus donations to the library, which she would also deposit into her personal account.Duffy pleaded guilty to the charges on Sept. 28, 2012. On Jan. 10 of this year she was sentenced to five years in prison, despite Riley’s claim that Duffy was “a psychopath.”During her sentencing, Riley said Duffy underwent “hours of interviews and tests” with Harvard psychologist Donald Davidoff, who diagnosed her as a psychopath.”Psychopathy is a disease that cannot be cured,” said Riley during the sentencing. “This has not only destroyed this woman’s life, but has destroyed her family’s life.”However, Judge Douglas P. Woodlock was not moved.”We treat people as being autonomous and having their own free will,” said Woodlock at the sentencing. “And with that there are consequences.”While she was supposed to report to prison on Feb. 22, Duffy had that date moved to March 11 because of an illness, but remained free until today pending her assignment.This won’t be Duffy’s first time in jail. In 1993, Duffy was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution after being convicted on 13 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy and perjury. As a supervisor with an insurance company at the time, Duffy used her position to enter fake claims in 1987 and 1988 that resulted in $120,000 in checks being paid to her former boyfriend.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].