Law Firm Trust Account Irregularities Trigger Police Probe, Ultimately Landing Office Manager With Past History Of Embezzlement & Rubber Check Writing 7 To 9 Years Prison Time For Siphoning $150K+ From Employer's Bank Accounts

In Wilmington, North Carolina, WECT-TV Channel 6 reports:

• A Wilmington woman pleaded guilty [] to stealing thousands of dollars from her employer.
  
  According to District Attorney's Office, Felicia Kelley, 44, was accused of embezzling from the law firm Yow, Fox & Mannen, L.L.P. and pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling greater than $100,000.
  
  Kelley was sentenced to 7-9 years in prison and will be forced to pay back over $145,000 in restitution to the victims.
  
  The Wilmington Police Department was contacted by partners at the law firm when they noticed a discrepancy in their trust account in November of 2015. When trying to locate the missing money, other financial discrepancies were ultimately linked to Kelley, who was the office manager and bookkeeper.
  
  The discrepancies included $10,000 in missing cash and checks written to Kelley's husband, juvenile son and boyfriend. Kelley disguised the checks as legitimate business expenditures for the law firm. A forensic audit found a total loss in excess of $153,000.
  
  Kelley was in Colorado at the time the warrants were issued for her. She was arrested and extradited back to North Carolina in December 2015.
  
  She has also been previously convicted of a lower class embezzlement at another law firm in Jacksonville, misdemeanor embezzlement in Virginia and has worthless check convictions in North Carolina. These convictions, however, were under a different name and were not identified in her employer's background check.
  
  “This case was handled by the [North Carolina] Financial Crimes Division of the Conference of District Attorneys, which is an elite group of prosecutors. We rely upon this division in complex, multi-jurisdictional, and conflicts cases. Today’s result once again demonstrates our joint commitment to hold white collar criminals fully responsible under the law,” stated District Attorney Ben David.

Source: Office manager pleads guilty to stealing money from law firm.