A former Hartford County state marshal is facing a felony larceny charge after investigators say she kept about $38,000 in court-ordered wage and bank garnishments that should have gone to creditors who had already won their cases. Nicole Baker, 50, of Wethersfield, was arrested on October 13 and charged with first-degree larceny, a class B felony that carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.
Inspectors from the Statewide Prosecution Bureau of the Chief State's Attorney's Office formally charged Baker under Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-122, according to the Division of Criminal Justice. Her initial court appearance is scheduled for October 26 in New Britain Superior Court. As reported by DailyVoice, Baker was released on a $30,000 non-surety bond following her arrest.
Investigators allege Baker collected the garnishment funds between December 2023 and June 2026, per the arrest warrant affidavit cited in that report, and that the money originated from wage and bank garnishments ordered through the New Britain and Hartford Superior Courts. Authorities say that rather than disbursing the funds to creditors who had won court judgments, she deposited the money into a private bank account, a method of the alleged theft also detailed in prosecutorial statements reported by FOX61.
Regulatory Trouble Preceded The Arrest
Baker's criminal case followed months of administrative scrutiny. The Connecticut State Marshal Commission suspended her in June 2026, and commission records show it had already convened a summary suspension hearing regarding Baker on May 26, 2026, following administrative complaints filed against her, in a matter designated File No. 26-03 Barba v. Baker and File No. 26-09 In Re Baker.
Baker formally submitted her resignation as a Hartford County state marshal ahead of the commission's monthly meeting on July 23, 2026, according to commission meeting records. That resignation came roughly three months before inspectors from the Chief State's Attorney's Office brought the first-degree larceny charge.
How Connecticut's Marshal System Works
State marshals in Connecticut are sworn officers who enforce civil court orders, including collecting money from wages and bank accounts to satisfy judgments. They operate as independent businesses under commission oversight rather than as salaried court employees. Figures cited by a Connecticut process-server compliance resource put the number of state marshals at about 236.
Because marshals handle significant sums collected directly from debtors, lawmakers have tightened financial safeguards in recent years. Effective October 1, 2025, the state raised the mandatory bond marshals must maintain from $10,000 to $100,000, a reform intended to better protect victims of financial misconduct. Under Connecticut General Statutes § 6-35, marshals who fail to pay over court-collected monies within statutory deadlines also face statutory interest penalties alongside administrative or criminal sanctions.
New Law Tightens Commission Oversight
Public Act 26-80, which took effect October 1, 2026, further expanded the State Marshal Commission's oversight mandate, establishing mandatory annual reporting on marshal turnover and standardized recruitment across all eight counties. The timing places Baker's case squarely within a period of heightened regulatory attention on the profession.
Baker's arrest echoes an earlier Connecticut case: in July 2021, former state marshal Peter E. Karpovich was arrested and charged with second-degree larceny for keeping $12,331 in collection funds owed to six complainants, a case also investigated by the Chief State's Attorney's Office. A 2022 investigation by Connecticut Public's Accountability Project separately found hundreds of cases where state marshals overcharged defendants in foreclosure service fees, pointing to what the outlet described as limited historical oversight of the profession.
