A former bookkeeper has been charged for her part in a half-decade-long tale of embezzlement totalling $800,000. At this time, it is reported that she spent the ill-gotten gains on personal expenditure, including gambling.
The individual in question, Reese Esther Paul, 66, of Holland, Northampton Township in Pennsylvania, received a custodial sentence and a period of probation for her part in the fraud.
Bookkeeper sentenced for $800,000 embezzlement
The report was published by Bucks County and the office of Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber, who leads the Insurance Fraud and Economic Crimes Unit. It was disclosed that Paul had decided to commit fraud during her time with her employer, the Law Office of Rovner, Allen, Rovner, Zimmerman, Sigman, and Schmidt.
The former bookkeeper was found to have embezzled $822,816.41 from the legal firm from December 20, 2017, to December 29, 2023. In this time, said the release, Paul used the funds for significant personal and family expenditures, including “travel, retail purchases, cash advances, online gambling, and even contributions to her grandchildren’s college savings accounts.”
Detective Joseph Zaffino unravelled the mystery as part of his investigation, which was sparked by concerns raised by Paul’s employers. They flagged their worries after a payment bounced from the company’s New Jersey escrow account.
It was later found by Detective Zaffino that the fraud began in 2017, when over seventy-one illegally submitted cheques were found to be in the name of law firm partner Robert Rovner. These were forged and mailed for the attention of Paul to the tune of $372,816.41.
The investigation deepened further when Detective Zaffino discovered “90 unauthorized electronic transfers totaling $450,000 to her personal credit card accounts. These transactions were disguised in expense reports as payments to the New Jersey Judiciary Account Charge System, a system attorneys use for filing fees.”
Paul has been sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day in the Bucks County Correctional Facility, followed by five years of probation. She made a $100,000 payment at sentencing, but has not made any further attempts to liquidate any further assets to repay the stolen funds that the court and President Judge Raymond F. McHugh have instructed be repaid.
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