Paralegal Pleads Guilty To Stealing From Firm
By DOUGLAS S. MALAN
A former paralegal at Berman & Russo in South Windsor has pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing $1.7 million from the law firm.
Patricia Baddeley Meehan, 42, worked for Berman & Russo from 1998 to 2007 and primarily handled real estate closings. She had access to the firm’s clients’ funds account and the firm’s operating account and was authorized by the law firm’s partners to write checks from both accounts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Meehan, who lives in Ellington, admitted that between 2002 and 2007, she took cash advances on her personal credit cards of more than $1.4 million and around the same time began writing checks from the clients’ funds account to pay those credit card bills. She eventually wrote 77 checks from the account totaling more than $1.7 million, all made payable to her credit card company.
Prosecutors say Meehan concealed her activities by falsifying the firm’s books and shifting money between the accounts to cover her tracks. Because she failed to report the proceeds of her fraud, she owes nearly $124,000 in taxes from the 2004 and 2005 tax years.
Meehan faces up to 43 years in prison and a fine of up to $3.4 million.
Federal Judge Stefan R. Underhill scheduled sentencing for Jan. 6, 2009.•
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