Former Office Manager Pleads Guilty to $75K Theft from Debt Collection Law Firm
When payments came in to the Bruck Law Firm from debtors, Sanjuana Rodriguez was supposed to post the amounts and deposit the money in the bank.
But she sometimes omitted the latter step, she told a Milwaukee police detective earlier this year, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Proof & Hearsay blog.
“Whenever I felt like needed money I would take it … maybe take $200 up to $1,000,” Rodriguez reportedly said, explaining that she used the money for shopping sprees and trips. “It wasn’t,” she noted, “a daily thing.”
Today the 28-year-old pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $75,000 between 2008 and 2010, the newspaper article says. She could get up to five years and be fined up to $25,000 when she is sentenced later this year.
Her lawyer declined to comment, and the Bruck firm didn’t respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.
Questions were raised, the article says, when an audit revealed discrepancies between the ledger accounts and bank records.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Ex-Office Manager Accused of Stealing $1.1M from Law Firm, Spending on Vintage Car”
ABAJournal.com: “Former Office Manager to Get 7 Years in Theft of Over $1M from NJ Law Firm”
ABAJournal.com: “Former Law Firm Manager Gets 8 Years for Stealing $884K; $47K Spent on Lunch Club Meals with Mom”
