SMETHPORT -ðA former chief of the McKean County Tax Claim Office
was sentenced to house arrest Wednesday morning in McKean County
Court for embezzling money from the county.

Colleen Nobles was sentenced to 30 days to one year of house
arrest after she misappropriated $1,500.

Nobles, 45, of Smethport, pleaded guilty to embezzlement and
tampering with records, first-degree misdemeanors; and
misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or
financial institutions, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Her sentence is broke down as follows: 30 days to one year house
arrest for tampering with records plus one year probation – served
concurrently – for both misapplication of entrusted property and
embezzlement.

Although the state attorney general’s office, represented by
Todd Goodwin, did not oppose a sentence of probation, McKean County
President Judge John M. Cleland felt otherwise.

“I think that some period of incarceration is appropriate,” he
said before handing down the sentence.

Cleland explained that the components in sentencing someone –
deterrence, rehabilitation and public safety – were not a concern
since she has acknowledged and accepted responsibility for what she
had done.

He was concerned about the punishment aspect.

Nobles’ attorney, Jay Paul Kahle, said that his client has
acknowledged her wrong-doing and is working to make amends.

Kahle said there was “damage done to herself and family and her
position in the community. Those are things she has to work on now
to rectify. She’s trying to do that.”

“She made a mistake and she knows it.”

Nobles herself addressed Cleland, expressing remorse over what
happened.

“I am very sorry for this to happen,” she said. “It won’t happen
again.”

Nobles, who was granted work release, also has to do community
service and undergo a mental health evaluation.

An annual audit uncovered that according to the 2003 tax
records, Nobles’ taxes, which were in her husband’s name, were not
paid until 2006. That delinquency should have resulted in the
property going up for tax sale in September 2005, according to
court records said.

She then used a check submitted to pay another person’s taxes to
credit her account.

Also during his investigation, the auditor found that the McKean
County sheriff wrote a check for a sheriff sale of the other
person’s property in the amount of $6,453.21 to the Tax Claim
Office, the records said.

After comparing the amount the other people 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 … delinquent taxes on the Tax Lien Certificates by
over $1,500 when she requested the delinquent tax payment from the
McKean County sheriff,” the court records said.