ORANGE — Police Chief James Sullivan announced Wednesday that an indictment has been issued in the fraud case that drained an estimated $338,000 from the town’s coffers, but he urged more patience as the investigation continues.

Sullivan updated the public at Wednesday’s Selectboard meeting, where he said his department received a felony indictment for larceny for one person, who has no connection to the town.

Until a warrant is issued, Sullivan said public information will be limited as his department, the FBI and the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office are investigating the fraud.

“I can’t get into too much on it right now. I’m waiting for a warrant for this person, an extraditable warrant. This person is more than halfway across the country,” Sullivan explained. “Once I get the warrant, the extraditable warrant, my intention is to make that person very public here in the town of Orange.”

The incident occurred sometime in summer 2023 and was detected by then-new Town Administrator Matthew Fortier in September 2023.

Fortier reported in May 2024 that the fraud could have been worse than it was, as it was originally more than $800,000, but the bank was able to stop some of those payments.

Sullivan described the suspect as a “money mule,” who is just a “small cog” in a much bigger international scheme. He noted he cannot speak for the FBI’s investigation, but they are looking at it on a “more global” scale. Sullivan also thanked Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Atallah for his ongoing work on the case.

With the suspect being ID’d, Sullivan said any discussion or rumors about townspeople defrauding the town or employees embezzling money can be “put to bed.” The majority of the money, he added, is outside of the United States and a good chunk of it was “converted into bitcoin,” a decentralized, digital currency.

Selectboard member Jane Peirce asked if it was possible for Orange to recoup any of its losses, to which Sullivan said it is unlikely.

“We have a pretty good idea of where just about every dime went and most of it is not in this country,” Sullivan said, noting that the person who allegedly defrauded the town received little payment for their crimes. “Absolutely no money that we have found has come anywhere near back to Orange.”

Future fraud in unlikely, according to Selectboard member Andrew Smith, who said Fortier has been working to ensure the community is protected.

“Matt has been instrumental in setting up internal procedures and policies to help tighten up the reins,” Smith said, “so such a scam has much less of a chance of success in the future.”

Orange is far from the only community in Massachusetts and New England to suffer debilitating losses resulting from fraud.

In 2024, Arlington officials revealed the community was the victim of about $445,945 in fraud after international criminals posed as a vendor working to rebuild the town’s high school. The town was alerted to the fraud when the actual vendor reported it did not receive the expected payments, according to reporting from The Boston Globe in June 2024.

In 2021, Peterborough, New Hampshire officials announced the town was scammed out of $2.3 million — in a community with a $15.8 million budget that year — through a two-part scheme. First, the thieves impersonated school district staff with forged documents and emails to access a $1 million transfer and then, several weeks later, the thieves posed as contractors working on a bridge project in town, according to reporting from New Hampshire Public Radio.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.