Thursday, November 15, 2012

Georga Paralegal Admits Stealing Almost $300K

An Elberta woman today admitted to stealing almost $300,000 from a Foley lawyer for whom she worked and then forging his signature on letters to her creditors.

Katrina Duke Williamson pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. The identity theft charge carries a mandatory-minimum prison term of two years in addition to her punishment on the bank fraud charge, which the U.S. Probation Office estimates would be at least three years and five months.

Court records describe a systematic scheme to embezzle money both from Stephen Middleton’s law firm and from trust accounts held on behalf of his clients from February 2008 until June of last year.

Assistant Federal Defender Latisha Colvin said her client was a paralegal with bookkeeping responsibilities. She said she did not want to comment until the defendant’s sentencing hearing in May.

Full Article and Source:
Paralegal Admids Stealing Almost $300,000 From Foley Lawyer, Forging His Signature

2 comments:

Thelma said...

Five years is reasonable, but what security checks are made, if any, on hires?

Betty said...

Good point. And she'll probably be right back at it when she gets out of prison.