A Former Anne’s County Circuit Court Family Services coordinator will spend the next 18 months in jail for embezzling more than $2,800 from local families in 2018. Monday afternoon, Sept.30, Talbot County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Kehoe sentenced Kathryn St. Landau, who worked as an independent contractor for the court, to five years in the Maryland Department of Corrections with all but 18 months suspended. St. Landau, 35, of Centreville, entered an Alford plea on July 15 to one count of embezzle misappropriate as part of a plea agreement. An Alford plea admits there is enough evidence for a conviction but does not formally admit guilt.

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, St. Landau expressed remorse for her actions by saying, “I am still learning the root cause of my actions. I do accept responsibility for what I have done. I am sorry to the families that were affected by my actions.”

“There are labors of love, but Mary (Pierson) has a right to believe in the court system, as well as the (families) that walk into this court and the one in Queen Anne’s County,” Kehoe said. “You violated that trust.”

Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney Lance Richardson said St. Landau used her work computer within the courthouse to access banking information from guardianship cases, which were within the records maintained within the computer system of the circuit court. He said she used the victims’ banking information to order $2,857.48 worth of merchandise off of Amazon. He said the merchandise was recovered at St. Landau’s residence during the execution of a search and seizure warrant. “It was mostly used for Christmas gifts for her children and family,” Richardson said.

The case was moved to Talbot County Circuit Court because she worked at the Queen Anne’s County Circuit Courthouse. The case spanned from Aug. 23, 2018, to Oct. 10, 2018.