Ex-Prosecutor Sentenced for Stealing Crime Victim Money

A former Connecticut prosecutor has been sentenced to 22 months in prison for stealing nearly $85,000 intended for crime victims and charity.

L. Mark Hurley had pleaded no contest to forgery and larceny charges and claimed the thefts were spurred by a gambling addiction, the Hartford Courant reports. He was accused of taking nearly $55,000 in defendants' charitable contributions and $29,000 from the crime victims' fund of the state prosecutors’ union, the Associated Press reports.

Hurley had worked in the state’s attorney's office in Milford. The prosecutor in Hurley’s case, Tolland State's Attorney Matthew Gedansky, told the Courant that Hurley took contributions that traffic defendants made to settle their cases.

Hurley told the defendants to get blank postal orders to cover the contributions and then used the money to pay his credit card balances, Gedansky said.

Hurley is currently working as a car salesman and has paid restitution. The Connecticut Post also covered the case.