Law Firm Secretary Pinched For Allegedly Swiping Escrow Account Cash & Lawsuit Settlement Proceeds, Forging Client's Signatures & Pocketing Their Checks

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• A former secretary at a Deerfield Beach personal injury law firm has been accused of forging client checks and stealing nearly $25,000, according to an arrest affidavit. Charged with grand theft, Vanessa Belotte, 29, of Coral Springs, is being held at the Main Jail on $25,000 bond.

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• "[Belotte's] fraudulent activities amount to $24,916.30; however, the final amount of loss may increase, as it is difficult to ascertain at the present time whether any additional forged checks will be discovered," Detective John Calabro, of the Broward Sheriff's Office, wrote in a Feb. 25 arrest affidavit.
  
  In a prepared statement, one of the firm's partners, Andrew Berrio, said: "Fuentes & Berrio are working closely with the few clients involved, as well as law enforcement, during this ongoing investigation and assure that the clients will ultimately suffer no economic loss."
  
  According to the arrest affidavit, as many as 11 clients were affected.
  
  Embezzlement suspicions were first sparked when it was discovered in November 2012 that five fraudulent debits — three payments to Florida Power & Light totaling $700 and two payments to Comcast for a total of $521 — had been made from a client's trust account in October 2012.
  
  A subsequent investigation "uncovered an even bigger fraud," including the discovery at Belotte's old desk of "notepads where she practiced client's signatures," and "incriminating correspondence" on her work computer, the arrest affidavit said.
  
  Aside from the five unauthorized debits, beginning in August 2012, Belotte was also involved in the forgeries of at least nine checks that should have been mailed to clients, according to the affidavit.
  
  When notified, the clients informed investigators that "they did not receive their checks and that their signatures were forged," the affidavit said. In one instance, the affidavit says, Belotte changed a client's mailing address to her own Coral Springs home address.
  
  And on another occasion, Belotte sent a letter to a client advising that the firm no longer wanted to represent him. She then called the insurance company and settled the case. When the settlement check arrived at the law firm, instead of arranging for the client to pick it up, Belotte "negotiated the check through the same previously described fraudulent means," the affidavit said.
  
  It was not immediately clear if Belotte had retained an attorney to represent her.

For the story, see Former secretary for Deerfield law firm accused of embezzlement.