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 in court at 1 p.m., March 25, in front of Judge Jay Sheffield.

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

According to the charging document filed by Deputy County Attorney Lauren O’Neill, Detective Brandon Holzer of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office got a call from a ambulance service board member on Dec. 26. She told the investigator she believed O’Brien was living in the service’s office building next to the ambulance barn on North Third Street. O’Brien was the service’s office clerk and the board’s secretary and treasurer at the time.

The board member told Holzer the agency missed a call for service because the router was not on.

Holzer and two board members went to the ambulance barn that morning and allegedly found O’Brien in the records room where patient files and ambulance service workers’ information are stored. Holzer described O'Brien as “very disheveled” as if she had “just woken up" and reported seeing open containers of White Claw hard seltzers on the shelves. Under questioning, O'Brien said that a man was also in the records room with her, according to court documents.

Ambulance service board members noticed discrepancies in the accounting the defendant provided in the summer of 2025, court documents said. 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 that the accused was “brought to task for this and a full financial report was ordered for the December meeting,” according to court documents. O’Brien was also told to keep regular office hours. Board members said the financial report O’Brien gave them was incomplete.

On 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, court documents said.

On Dec. 24, a board member received a new notification that the gateway was offline, according to court documents. She messaged the other members of the board 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, court documents said. 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 the volunteers' phones. Dispatch then told one of the board members they had 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.

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 internet service, and she contacted a board member and the pair travelled to the ambulance barn.

Once at the barn, two board members learned someone had turned off the router, according to court documents.

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

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