A former sheriff’s dispatcher in a suburb of New Orleans has been arrested and accused by authorities of trying to return more than $ 1.2 million that was accidentally dumped into her real estate account.
GRETNA, La. A former sheriff’s dispatcher in a suburb of New Orleans has been arrested and is accused of returning more than $ 1.2 million that was accidentally thrown into her brokerage account, authorities said.
33-year-old Kelyn Spadoni was arrested on Wednesday on charges of theft worth more than $ 25,000, bank fraud and illegal transfer of funds, nola.com and WVUE-TV reported. Reports say she was fired by Sheriff Jefferson Parish after her arrest.
Spadoni is being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on a $ 50,000 bond. It was unknown if she had a lawyer who could speak on her behalf.
Spadoni is accused of immediately moving the funds to another account and using some of the money to buy a new car and a home, authorities said.
According to authorities, a clerical error led to Charles Schwab, a major financial services company, depositing more than $ 1.2 million in her brokerage account when it only meant about $ 82 in February, nola.com reported. When the bank tried to claim the money back, the request was rejected according to the sheriff’s office because it was not available.
According to the sheriff’s office, it was later learned that Spadoni had moved the funds to another account.
Capt. Sheriff’s spokesman Jason Rivarde said that although the money was in her account, “it was not her money.”
“She has no legal claim to the money,” he added. ‘Even if it was accidentally put in there. It was an accounting error. ‘
Charles Schwab & Co sued Spadoni in federal court on Tuesday. The company tried several times to contact Spadoni to recover the money transferred, but was unsuccessful, Rivarde said. So far, about 75% of the money has been recovered, he added.
The company argued in its lawsuit that Spadoni’s account contract with Schwab contained an agreement that if the customer received an overpayment of funds, the customer should return the full amount.
‘If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on a utility payment, they want the money returned or credited to them. It is no different, “said Rivarde.
He said Spadoni had been with Sheriff 911 for 4 and 1/2 years.