Former UMass Lowell Employee Charged With Stealing $217,000

WOBURN - Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan has announced that Denise Daly, 53, of Lowell, was arraigned today in Middlesex Superior Court on charges of larceny over $250 (5 counts), false entry in corporate books, forgery, uttering a forged record, and witness intimidation.

Clerk Magistrate Matthew Day released the defendant on personal recognizance and ordered her to stay away from UMass campuses and facilities and to have no contact with witnesses, including UMass employees. The next scheduled hearing in this case is Thursday, February 25.

“This case is an example of a violation of the trust that universities put in their employees,” stated District Attorney Marian Ryan. “Over a period of six years the defendant is alleged to have siphoned off funds in excess of $200,000. That money was meant to be used as a resource for students, faculty, and members of the UMass Lowell community.”

Daly was an eight year employee of the University of Massachusetts Lowell serving as a part-time office manager of the Recreation Center. The facility offers programs open to the students, faculty, staff, and members of the UMass Lowell community including a fitness center, an indoor track, and racquet courts.

Beginning in 2008, the Rec Center began using a digital system to record monetary transactions made by cash, check, or credit card; all cash payments were deposited into a drop safe. The defendant allegedly was solely responsible for any cash collected by the students employed by the Rec Center and for preparing deposit reports for signature by her supervisor. The defendant allegedly manipulated the reports her supervisor had previously signed off on and forged the supervisor’s signature on a report that reflected less revenue than what the Rec Center had collected. The defendant allegedly kept the difference for herself.

After mid-2011, the defendant is alleged to have modified her methods by exporting data from a computer accounting program into Microsoft Excel. The defendant would allegedly then edit the Excel files in an effort to conceal missing funds.

Upon discovering revenue discrepancies UMass Lowell officials conducted an internal audit. The audit found that over a period from 2008 until 2013 the defendant had allegedly taken over $217,000 in cash from the Rec Center. The stolen funds were cash receipts – from sources such as locker fees, guest fees, and towel rentals at the recreation center – which provide supplemental revenue for the center’s operations.  The defendant was terminated from UMass Lowell in January of 2014.

This case is being investigated by the UMass Lowell Police Department and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office with assistance from the University of Massachusetts Internal Audit Office.

These charges are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The prosecutor assigned to this case is Assistant District Attorney Nate Burris.