METHUEN, Mass. — A former city hall clerk is accused of stealing a set of silver antique plates valued at $10,000 and pawning them in for a fraction of their worth. 

Judith Hajjar, 58, who worked in the Methuen city clerk’s office, immediately filed for retirement when questioned about the seven missing plates that were stored in a city hall vault, according to a detective’s report. 

Hajjar is charged with larceny of property valued over $250 and was arraigned in court last week and released on personal recognizance, according to court records. 

The silver plates previously belonged to the estate of Edward F. Searles, a prominent architectural designer who married into a share of the Central Pacific Railroad fortune. Searles died in 1920. His legacy to Methuen includes his former estate and the building that now serves as City Hall. 

The plates were displayed on various occasions by the Methuen Historical Society. 

On Monday, Aug. 28, City Clerk Christine “Tina” Touma-Conway reported the sterling silver plates missing to police, according to a report by Detective Thomas McMenamon Jr.

Engraved with the Searles family name, the plates were purchased by the city about 15 years ago for $6,000, McMenamon wrote. 

The plates were wrapped and stored in a box “and very few people knew of their existence,” according to the report. 

However, Touma-Conway said earlier that day she’d gone into the vault to retrieve them for the historical society and could not find them. She also asked her staff if they had seen them or removed them from the vault. 

According to police, Hajjar became very defensive when questioned and said she’d been told by another worker “to clean up the safe and throw stuff out.” 

Hajjar shortly after submitted her retirement papers “effective immediately” to the Methuen Retirement Board, according to McMenamon’s report. 

Detectives McMenamon and Charles DeJesus questioned all of the city clerk’s office staff about the missing plates. They all claimed to have heard about the plates but had never seen them or knew they were stored in the vault. 

When Hajjar was questioned, detectives said she admitted “she pawned the plates at a pawn shop back in February 2017,” McMenamon wrote.  

A pawn shop in Lowell confirmed Hajjar was paid $700 for the plates on Feb. 15, 2017.

The pawn shop held onto the silver plates for 30 days and then sold them to a refinery, where they were melted down, McMenamon wrote. 

A copy of the “bill of sale” from Hajjar to the pawn shop is included in the court file. 

Police Chief Joseph Solomon said he was told the silver plates were worth $10,000. 

“But historically they were priceless,” he said. 

If convicted of larceny of property valued over $250, Hajjar faces up to five years in state prison and fine of up to $25,000. 

Hajjar did not return a phone message seeking comment for this story. 

She is due back in court on Oct. 13. 

Harmacinski writes for the North Andover, Massachusetts, Eagle-Tribune.