PROCTOR — The town librarian has been forced to resign but won't face criminal charges after police and a library trustee said she auctioned off a nearly $100,000 painting owned by Proctor Free Library.

The Jessie Wilcox Smith painting "Curly Locks" has been part of the library's collections since some time in the 1940s and has occupied prominent places in the children's section of the library over the years. As one of a series of paintings for Good Housekeeping Magazine's Mother Goose series in 1914, the 26-inch by 33-inch work has been a valued hallmark at the library.

So it was a "shock" for Library Trustee vice president Stephen Follett to read in the Rutland Herald last month that an anonymous woman received the same painting from one of her spinster aunts years ago and decided to auction it off to help pay for her daughter's wedding.

About a week after reading about the painting's auction, which sold for $96,600, Follett said the Board of Trustees had gleaned the truth — head librarian Mary Brough admitted to taking the almost 100-year-old painting.

The admission by the eight-year librarian touched off a series of events, including her resignation, the return of both the painting and the sale's proceeds and a State Police investigation that ended without charges when the library decided not to press charges and the buyer and auction house were made financially whole.

"The board voted unanimously not to pursue charges," Follett said. "For my part, the reason was our primary interest was to get the painting back. She immediately confessed her involvement and we have the painting … as far as we're concerned, it ends here."

The State Police and Rutland County State's Attorney James Mongeon said they're following suit.

After conducting an investigation that included interviews with members of the Board of Trustees and Brough, State Police Detective Sgt. Samuel Capogrossi said he brought the case to Mongeon. But after a recent meeting with the state's attorney, the decision was made not to pursue charges.

"I don't have a case," Mongeon said. "You should talk to the Proctor Library, I can't speak for them."

Representatives from Kaminski Auctions in Beverly, Mass., couldn't be reached Thursday. In prior interviews with the auctioneers, the name of the painting's buyer was kept confidential.

Brough didn't comment Thursday, but her husband Tim did.

In a phone message, Tim Brough said "Mary's resignation and the reason for it are all my fault and we're trying to figure out what to do next together."

Follett said he believed some of the money might have been intended to pay for a wedding for Brough's daughter — a detail of the fictional account that she gave to the auctioneers that was true.

Capogrossi said Thursday that while the painting sold for close to $100,000, Brough had not taken receipt of the full amount. In fact, he said she had received only a small portion of it by the time the board and police caught on to the painting's absence.

He said what proceeds she did receive were all returned.

Follett, whose board is in the process of hiring a new librarian, said the painting will not return to the children's section until it has been insured.

brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com