Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Paralegal Gets 16-Month Sentence for Embezzlement

By ParalegalGateway.com

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A 44-year-old Bloomfield woman has received a 16-month prison sentence for embezzling nearly $700,000.

Karen Davis-Jennings was sentenced Monday in federal court in Hartford for embezzling $687,674 from her former employer and his elderly mother, who suffers from dementia. Davis-Jennings pleaded guilty last year to three counts of mail fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.

Authorities say she used the money to pay for personal expenses, including gambling expenses at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

Davis-Jennings worked as a paralegal and bookkeeper for a law firm in West Hartford and handled some personal finances for the principal and his mother.

Prosecutors say Davis-Jennings filed false income tax returns for 2001 through 2004 that resulted in a tax loss to the government of about $142,000. She was ordered to pay restitution of $621,174.

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Full post as published by ParalegalGateway Blawg on June 13, 2008 (boomark / email).