A former sheriff’s coordinator in suburban New Orleans has been arrested, accused by authorities of refusing more than $ 1.2 million inadvertently deposited into her securities account.
GRETNA, La. – A former sheriff’s coordinator in suburban New Orleans has been arrested, accused of denying more than $ 1.2 million accidentally deposited into her securities account, authorities said.
Kelyn Spadoni, 33, was taken into custody Wednesday on charges of more than $ 25,000 theft, bank fraud and illegal money transfer, nola.com and WVUE-TV reported. According to reports, she was fired by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office after her arrest.
Spadoni is being held at Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on $ 50,000 bail. It was not known whether she has a lawyer who could speak on her behalf.
Spadoni is accused of immediately moving the money to another account and using some of the money to buy a new car and a house, authorities said.
Authorities said a clerical error had caused Charles Schwab, a major financial services company, to deposit more than $ 1.2 million into her trading account, when it was only meant to transfer about $ 82 in February, Nola reported. .com. When the bank tried to recover the money, the request was denied because the money was not available, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said it was later learned that Spadoni had deposited the money into another account.
Captain Jason Rivarde, a sheriff’s spokesman, said that although the money was deposited into her account, “it is not her money.”
“She has no legal claim to that money,” he added. ‘Even if it was accidentally put in there. It was an accounting mistake. “
Charles Schwab & Co. Spadoni sued in federal court on Tuesday. The company tried to contact Spadoni several times to get the money transferred back, but couldn’t, 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 includes an agreement that if a customer receives too much money, the customer must refund the full amount.
“If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on an energy surcharge, they want to receive that money back or be credited. This is no different, ”said Rivarde.
He said Spadoni had been at the sheriff’s center for 4 and 1/2 years.