By Julie Manganis
PEABODY — An employee of a Peabody food pantry has been charged with stealing $500 worth of grocery gift cards donated by city employees.
April Paolini was alone in the office of Haven From Hunger on Wallis Street one day last month, police say, when a city official showed up with the cards and a note explaining that the money to purchase the gift cards was raised by employees taking part in state Sen. Fred Berry's food drive in October.
Peabody Finance Director Patricia Schaffer was surprised, however, when she never got a thank-you note for the donation, as she had in past years.
After a month went by, Schaffer called Haven From Hunger Director Trudy MacIntyre, who said she had heard nothing of the donation.
When MacIntyre called Paolini and asked her about the gift cards, Paolini denied ever receiving the donation.
But police would come to a different conclusion, after Schaffer identified a photo of Paolini, and police then identified Paolini and two other accomplices caught on video surveillance using the gift cards at Stop & Shop stores in Peabody, Lynn and North Reading, according to Detective Douglas Marcus' report. At least four of the cards were combined and then converted into a Visa gift card, police say.
Paolini, 31, of 7 McIntire Court, Peabody, was arrested Monday on a charge of larceny of more than $250 and is being held on $1,500 cash bail at Framingham prison, where she's also being detained on a probation violation.
It turns out Paolini's record includes "numerous" court cases, including a 2006 cocaine distribution and conspiracy conviction for which she was still on probation, according to the case file at Peabody District Court.
That history was "the shock of the century" to MacIntyre, the longtime director of Haven From Hunger.
Paolini had worked for the organization for about a year and half, eventually becoming assistant director, said MacIntyre, who described Paolini as a reliable employee, someone she could always count on.
Despite the allegation, MacIntyre is concerned for Paolini, as well as her husband and children.
She cannot fathom why Paolini would steal from the organization, which had actually helped her out with meals for her family.
"I told her, 'The pantry is here, take what you need for you and your kids,'" MacIntyre said.
MacIntyre is also fearful that the incident could lead to a drop in donations at a time when demands on the food pantry have doubled because of the economy.
And the loss of a full-time employee has put a burden on workers and volunteers rushing to prepare holiday gift packages for needy children.
Ironically, Paolini herself was quoted in a Salem News story about three women being charged with falsely using Haven From Hunger's name to solicit donations in Danvers.
"It's horrible that they'd go out and do something like that," Paolini told a reporter, just one week before she allegedly stole the gift cards.
Paolini is due back in court on Dec. 31.
Donations to Haven From Hunger can be made to P.O. Box 46, Peabody, MA 01960.
