The former chief of the McKean County Tax Claim Office was
arraigned on criminal charges Monday in front of District Judge
Bill Todd in Smethport – and is the second chief of that office to
lose her job over alleged inappropriate actions.

Colleen Jo Nobles, 44, of Route 46, Smethport, was charged with
embezzlement and tampering with records, first-degree misdemeanors;
and misapplication of entrusted property and property of government
or financial institutions, a second-degree misdemeanor.

According to court records, on May 2, McKean County Solicitor
Michele Alfieri contacted Kane-based state police and requested an
investigation into fraudulent activity involving Nobles. The
activity was uncovered during an annual audit of the Tax Claim
Office by the CPA Firm Felix and Gloekler.

The auditor told police that he reviewed Nobles’s taxes on May 1
as part of the audit. He found in the 2003 tax records that her
taxes, which were in her husband’s name, were not paid until March
6, 2006. The auditor told police that delinquency should have
resulted in the property going up for tax sale in September 2005,
the records said.

When the auditor questioned Nobles about the payment, she
obtained a receipt from the computer showing her payment. The
auditor then asked her if her check for her taxes was included in
the total deposit for March 6, to which she said yes. The auditor
reviewed the deposit information for that day and did not find a
check or payment from Nobles, according to the records.

However, when the auditor reviewed the Tax Claim Receipt
Journal, he noticed that Nobles’s payment had the same check number
as another payment – that of K.J./M.B. Zimmerman. The auditor
determined that the Zimmerman’s payment had been used to credit the
Nobles account, according to court records.

Nobles told the auditor it was an error, voided the payment and
issued a credit for the full amount to the Zimmermans. Also during
his investigation, the auditor found that the Sheriff of McKean
County had wrote a check for a sheriff sale of Zimmerman’s property
in the amount of $6,453.21 to the Tax Claim Office, the records
said.

After comparing the amount the Zimmermans actually owed to the
amount Nobles had submitted to the sheriff’s department for Tax
Lien Certificates, the auditor found Nobles had “inflated the
amount of the Zimmermans delinquent taxes on the Tax Lien
Certificates by over $1,500 when she requested the delinquent tax
payment from the McKean County Sheriff,” the records said.

The total amount she is accused of misappropriating from McKean
County is $1,528. Nobles has repaid the $1,299.38 that she had
taken from the funds of the Zimmerman tax sale, according to court
records.

However, of the total amount submitted to the Tax Claim Office
by the sheriff’s department, $228.62 remains unaccounted for, the
records read. The auditor concluded that Nobles did not deposit
that amount into the bank with the other tax receipts, and police
are holding her accountable for that amount of money as well, the
records said.

Nobles was arraigned Tuesday afternoon and released on her own
recognizance. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Oct. 2 in
front of Todd.

In 2004, Tax Claim Chief Nancy Olinger lost her job over
allegations that she withheld information related to back taxes on
a piece of property her son claimed he owned in Keating Township,
according to court records.

Olinger had been with the office for 25 years.

Nobles had been with the county for about 18 years.