A former employee and board member of the Troy Volunteer Ambulance Service is accused of stealing more than $10,000 from her employer.

Meghen O’Brien, 33, of Troy, is facing one felony count of embezzlement after authorities say she stole from the ambulance service for several years, beginning in November 2017 and ending in January 2026.

She is accused of using a variety of methods to get money, including using ambulance service credit cards, transferring money from the service to her personal account and using a fleet card to buy gas.

O’Brien, as of March 16, was locked up in the Lincoln County Detention Center on $45,000 bail. She is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, in front of Judge Jay Sheffield.

O’Brien was placed on administrative leave Dec. 26, 2025, and terminated from her position on Jan. 4, 2026.

According to the charging document filed by deputy county attorney Lauren O’Neill, county detective Brandon Holzer got a call Dec. 26, 2025, from a ambulance service board member. She told the investigator she believed O’Brien was living in the service’s office building next to the ambulance barn on North 3rd St. O’Brien, at the time, was the service’s office clerk and the board’s secretary and treasurer.

The board member told Det. Holzer the service missed a call for service because the router was not on. The board member suspected O’Brien was staying in the ambulance barn due to living conditions at home.

Det. Holzer and two board members went to the ambulance barn that morning and found O’Brien in the records room where patient files and ambulance service workers’ information was stored. Det. Holzer described the defendant as “very disheveled” as if she had “just woken up.” O’Brien, after questioning, said that a man identified as M.N. was also in the records room with her. Det. Holzer said there were open containers of White Claw hard seltzers on the shelves.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, ambulance service board members noticed discrepancies in the accounting the defendant provided in the summer of 2025. Board members also reported they hadn’t received accurate financial reports from O’Brien and that her office hours were varied and infrequent.

A board member told investigators in November 2025, the accused was “brought to task for this and a full financial report was ordered for the December meeting.” O’Brien was also told to keep regular office hours. Board members said the financial report O’Brien gave them was incomplete.

Dec. 15, a board member received a phone notification that the gateway for the door locks was offline. When it turned on, it showed O’Brien had entered the building that day.

Dec. 24, a board member received a new notification that the gateway was offline. She messaged the TVAS board on the following day and the group determined they would handle the situation the next day, as it was Christmas. 

Later that evening, K.D. missed a call from the county dispatch; when she called back, K.D. learned that she had missed the call as she had been away from her radio, and had not received an E-Dispatch notification to her phone. E-Dispatch's program is designed to take a radio call and transmit it via app to TVAS volunteers' phones. Dispatch then told one of the board members d struggled to get a crew out to a call for service in the Yaak. Ultimately an ambulance had to respond from the Bull Lake area. County deputy Derek Breiland assisted with a radio test, which came through loud and clear, but no notifications or CAD appeared in E-Dispatch. K.D. believed that the ambulance barn lost its internet service, and she contacted a board member and the pair traveled to the ambulance barn.

Once at the barn, two board members learned someone had turned off the router.

The board believed O’Brien was sleeping in the barn and was trying to hide it by causing the gateway to go offline.

The affidavit also reported that nearly $1,700 in Amazon purchases made by O’Brien did not benefit the ambulance service. It also alleges she made money transfers totaling $6,200.