Caregiver Arrested For Forging Checks In Elderly Woman’s Name

Brittany Kozubik

By Brianna Pitts

CULVER — A Marshall County caregiver was recently arrested for allegedly stealing money from the woman she was caring for.

Brittany Kozubik, 38, Monterey, is charged with eight counts of forgery, all level 6 felonies; and exploitation of a dependent, a class A misdemeanor.

On Sept. 27, 2022, a woman contacted Marshall County Central Dispatch to report allegations regarding her mother’s caregiver, identified as Kozubik, forging checks and stealing money from her. The woman said she had documentation of this occurring.

The woman gave Kozubik a budget of what to spend on her mother’s expenditures and she was allowed to use a debit card from the Fifth Third Bank only. When visiting her mother in Culver, the woman came across a check written out to Kozubik from a checking account from First Farmers Bank, an account she was not supposed to have access to, containing a forged signature with her mother’s name.

The woman said she noticed these checks being suspicious because only maintenance costs for the house were to be paid out using checks and there were several checks made out to “Brittany” since 2019, when she was initially hired.

Kozubik was booked in the Marshall County Jail on June 29, 2023.

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Caregiver Arrested For Forging Checks In Elderly Woman’s Name

Woman arrested years after scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers of Seneca bank, police say

by A.J. Davis

SENECA, S.C. — A woman has been arrested years after scamming thousands of dollars from a bank in Seneca, South Carolina, according to the Seneca Police Department.

According to Seneca PD, they received a report about missing money from a bank account held at Bank of America in Seneca.

Seneca PD says the victim reported that he was missing around $30,000 and also reported it to the Customer Service department by phone.

Seneca PD investigators worked with the Bank of America investigators for the next several weeks after the crime and determined that an employee who had been suspended and terminated, stole money from multiple individuals who lived in Oconee County.

According to Seneca PD, the victims would use the Bank of America in Seneca as their primary bank and used Bobbi Cortese as their personal banker.

Seneca PD investigators, along with the United States Secret Service, then spent the next several years conducting further interviews and gave the Bank of America time to complete its internal investigation.

Seneca PD says they discovered Cortese stole nearly $300,000 from four people using her position at the bank.

Some of the victims had money in the bank for life insurance payouts pursuant to the deaths of their spouses and others had a lifetime of earnings that would be used to fund their retirement, according to Seneca PD.

Cortese opened accounts under her victim's name without their knowledge or approval and did what officers call a “shell game” where she used the funds from one victim to replace funds that she had taken from another victim.

Seneca PD says after further investigation, they discovered that Cortese forged several documents and issued those documents to the victims to conceal the theft.

Cortese was committing these acts for around four years while she was employed at the Bank of America, according to Seneca PD.

According to Seneca PD, Cortese was charged with four counts of breach of trust and two counts of forgery.

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Woman arrested years after scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers of Seneca bank, police say

Winsted woman pleads guilty to stealing $850,000 from physically, mentally disabled people in conservatorships

Sheila Grochowski, 70, of Winsted, faces a charge of first-degree larceny and 19 counts of second-degree forgery for allegedly embezzling $851,000 from elderly and disabled people under the control of probate courts. (Avon Police / HANDOUT)

By David Owens

A 72-year-old Winsted woman who stole more than $850,000 from people with physical and mental disabilities pleaded guilty Thursday and faces up to seven years in prison.

Sheila Grochowski was arrested by Avon police and the chief state’s attorney’s office in November 2017 on more than a dozen larceny and forgery charges and had previously turned down a plea offer. But with her case called in for trial and jury selection scheduled to begin Thursday, she asked if the state’s plea offer was still available and accepted it, pleading guilty to a single count of first-degree larceny and two counts of second-degree forgery.

She is scheduled to be sentenced April 29 to 10 years in prison, suspended after she serves seven years, plus five years of probation. Her lawyer, public defender John Stawicki, will be able to argue for less prison time and probation.

Grochowski was a bookkeeper and secretary for Barbara H. Hance Associates, a Farmington company that handles the financial affairs of people whose affairs are controlled by probate courts.

Prosecutor Christopher A. Alexy told Hartford Superior Court Judge Laura F. Baldini that Grochowski wrote 437 checks to herself from the accounts of Hance clients. The state had video obtained from Grochowski’s bank showing her depositing two of the stolen checks, and bank records from her bank and those of her victims showing the extent of her thievery.

Grochowski pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine, meaning she disputed some of the state’s evidence, but acknowledged the state had enough evidence to convict her at trial.

According to the warrant for Grochowski’s arrest, Grochowski forged Hance’s signature on 591 checks and two withdrawal slips and stole $851,811 between January 2010 and May 2016, when Hance fired Grochowski.

Authorities do not know where the money went, but when confronted by Hance in early 2015 about the embezzlement of $4,829, Grochowski admitted the forgery and said she needed the money for medical expenses, according to the warrant. After that incident, Hance kept Grochowski as an employee, set up a repayment plan and did not notify police.

In May 2016 more problems with checks were found, and Hance determined that Grochowski’s alleged thefts were more extensive. A forensic audit by an accounting firm, and a review of thousands of pages of Grochowski’s bank records by Avon Det. Edward Espinoza and state Inspector Jack Bannan revealed the massive scale of Grochowski’s thefts.

The investigators identified 25 people they say were victimized by Grochowski, including her own father who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was under a conservatorship. Grochowski allegedly wrote herself checks from her father’s accounts and listed herself as executor of his estate, although he was still alive at the time.

The investigators also found that it wasn’t the first time Grochowski has stolen. In 1988 Grochowski was charged by Torrington police with first-degree larceny, second-degree larceny and third-degree forgery. She was convicted in November 1989 and sentenced to five years in prison.

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Winsted woman pleads guilty to stealing $850,000 from physically, mentally disabled people in conservatorships

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Woman Accused Of Stealing $851,000 From Elderly, Disabled

Louisville attorney accused of defrauding clients indicted on theft, forgery charges

A Louisville personal injury attorney accused in multiple lawsuits of stealing money from Hispanic clients has been has been indicted on theft and forgery charges.

The Jefferson County grand jury Thursday accused Andrew Clooney, 51, of settling clients' lawsuits without their consent and pocketing settlement money.

"It is a great development for our clients," said attorney Alex White, who filed suits alleging that Clooney stole more than $160,000 from clients. "We have been screaming to the authorities and the bar and we really needed for the criminal justice wheels to start turning so we can get justice."

The grand jury indicted Clooney on Thursday on seven counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property over $10,000. 

He also faces nine counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property over $500 but less than $10,000 and 19 counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. 

Clooney's wife, 46-year-old Christel Clooney, and employee Marlene Estrada, 57, were also indicted on the charges Thursday. 

Twenty different victims are named in the indictment. 

Prosecutors say the defendants, between July 2015 and August 2018, would forge clients' signatures on settlement agreements and Estrada would notarize them. 

White said last year that Andrew Clooney targeted those with poor English skills so their complaints wouldn’t be believed or would be chalked up to a misunderstanding.

The defendants, who face a maximum of 20 years in prison if they are convicted, are set to appear June 3 in Jefferson Circuit Court for arraignment.

Clooney was suspended from  practice on April 19 for failing to respond to a charge. The Kentucky Bar Association lists him as a former member.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Doug Meisel is prosecuting the case.

White said one of his clients has won a default judgment against Clooney and that the other lawsuits will be amended to add Christel Clooney and Estrada as defendants.

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Louisville attorney accused of defrauding clients indicted on theft, forgery charges

Complaint: Probate judge used position to raid estate

By Katy Barnitz / Journal Staff Writer

In her role as a deputy field investigator with the state Office of the Medical Investigator, Pamela Smith was sent on March 9, 2017, to look into the death of 82-year-old Dominic Domingo. Then, in her role as Sierra County probate judge, she appointed her own husband as special administrator to his estate.

Randy Smith went on to move nearly $300,000 from Domingo’s accounts into their own, ignoring “living heirs entitled to the estate.”

That’s according to criminal complaints filed Tuesday by the state Attorney General’s Office against the Truth or Consequences couple. The criminal charges come more than a year after Pamela Smith resigned as probate judge in lieu of further disciplinary proceedings by the Judicial Standards Commission.

Asked Tuesday about Pamela Smith’s employment status at OMI, a spokesman for the UNM Health Sciences Center said, “We are not able to answer due to pending litigation.”

The complaints allege that the probate court records granting authority to a special administrator were “filed and altered unlawfully by Pamela Smith,” to give Randy Smith access to Domingo’s bank accounts. The couple used the money to pay their mortgage and other debts, and to improve Randy Smith’s boat repair and consignment sale business, among other things, according to the complaint.

“Pamela Smith, as a probate judge in Sierra County, had a fiduciary responsibility of presiding over an orderly administration of justice,” a special agent wrote. “… Instead, Mrs. Smith committed criminal acts of willful misconduct while serving in office.”

The Smiths could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. It’s not clear who is representing them in the case.

Pamela Smith wrote in her OMI report that the chief of TorC police indicated Domingo had no next of kin. But in a recorded interview, the chief said he knew Domingo and knew he had family in New York. She also claimed that she received the same answer from a pension fund administrator, the complaint alleges. In fact, that company had sent a condolence letter to Domingo’s sister and nephew.

And Domingo’s nephew, Joseph Paone, told an investigator that he once met Randy Smith as he repaired his uncle’s car.

“Mr. Smith was misrepresenting himself as the special administrator by knowing there were living heirs that should have prevented him from accessing the estate of Dominic Domingo,” his complaint says.

Paone says the Smiths later hired an investigator who offered him a $192,000 “payoff settlement,” which he pointed out to investigators was less than the amount taken from his uncle’s accounts. Domingo’s family learned of his death through a letter from his pension administrator.

Pamela Smith is charged with crimes including engaging in an official act for personal financial gain, tampering with public records, forgery, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Her husband, Randy, is accused of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

Paone has filed a civil suit against the Smiths, OMI, the Sierra County Board of Commissioners, and the state of New Mexico.

Frances Crockett Carpenter, the Albuquerque attorney representing him, said Tuesday that along with the missing money, the Smiths still have Domingo’s remains.

She said her client’s hope is that no other families find themselves in this position.

“They want to make sure this never happens to anyone again,” Crockett Carpenter said. “That a person that has been given the permission and the privilege to hold office will never see that as anything but that, and that they won’t use their powers of office to commit fraud and steal and do all the awful things that they did.”

Asked whether the Attorney General’s Office believes other families were targeted, a spokesman for the office said he could not comment.

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Complaint: Probate judge used position to raid estate

New Mexico judge accused of stealing from dead man's estate

Judge Pamela Smith

By: KRQE Media

SIERRA COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) - A former New Mexico judge is now facing charges for stealing from a dead man.

Sierra County probate judge Pamela Smith resigned in 2017 after an investigation revealed she abused her power as a judge and OMI field investigator.

Smith is accused of responding to Dominic Domingo's death and identifying her husband as Domingo's next of kin, to gain access to his estate. In all, the couple is accused of stealing more than $280,000 from Domingo.

Smith is charged with "engaging in an official act for personal financial gain," fraud, and forgery.


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New Mexico judge accused of stealing from dead man's estate

Woman Accused Of Stealing $851,000 From Elderly, Disabled

Sheila Grochowski

Police have charged a Winsted bookkeeper with embezzling $851,000 from the accounts of elderly and disabled people whose finances were under the control of probate court conservatorships.

Sheila Grochowski, 70, gained access to the victims’ bank accounts through her employment with Barbara H. Hance Associates, a firm appointed by probate courts to handle the financial affairs of people under conservatorships.

According to the warrant for Grochowski’s arrest, she forged the signature of the firm’s owner, Barbara Hance, on 591 checks and two withdrawal slips and stole $851,811 between January 2010 and May 2016, when Hance fired Grochowski.

Hance could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Authorities do not know where the money went, but when confronted by Hance in early 2015 about the embezzlement of $4,829, Grochowski admitted the forgery and said she needed the money for medical expenses, according to the warrant for Grochowski’s arrest.

After that incident, Hance kept Grochowski as an employee, set up a repayment plan and did not notify police.

In May 2016 more problems with checks were found, and Hance determined that Grochowski’s alleged thefts were more extensive. A forensic audit by an accounting firm, and a review of thousands of pages of Grochowski’s bank records by Avon Det. Edward Espinoza and state Inspector Jack Bannan revealed the extent of Grochowski’s alleged thefts.

The investigators identified 25 people they say were victimized by Grochowski, including her own father who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was under a conservatorship. Grochowski allegedly wrote herself checks from her father’s accounts and listed herself as executor of his estate, although he was still alive.

The investigators also found that in 1988 Grochowski was charged by Torrington police with first-degree larceny, second-degree larceny and third-degree forgery. She was convicted in November 1989 and sentenced to five years in prison.

In signing the warrant for Grochowski’s arrest, Hartford Superior Court Judge Laura F. Baldini set bail at $750,000. At Grochowski’s arraignment Monday in Hartford, Judge Tammy Nguyen-O’Dowd released Grochowski on a promise to appear in court.

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Woman Accused Of Stealing $851,000 From Elderly, Disabled

Lafayette attorney arrested

A Lafayette attorney was arrested on a charge of forgery Friday evening by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office.

An arrest warrant was issued Thursday by Lafayette Magistrate Thomas Frederick for Harold Register Jr., and was the result of a Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office investigation that developed into probable cause that Register forged one of his client's checks.

The check was valued at $12,500 and deposited into his account.

Register surrendered himself to the LPSO Friday evening, and his bond is set at $50,000.

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Lafayette attorney arrested