A 911 dispatcher with the sheriff’s office has been arrested for allegedly refusing to return more than $1.2million mistakenly deposited into her account.
Kelyn Spadoni, from Louisianna, was taken into custody Wednesday on charges of theft, bank fraud and illegal transmission of monetary funds, according to local media.
She was also fired by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office – where she had worked for more than four years – following her arrest.
Authorities said a clerical error had caused Charles Schwab, a major financial services corporation, to deposit the seven-figure sum into her brokerage account when it only meant to transfer about $82 in February, nola.com reported.
When the bank attempted to reclaim the money, the request was rejected because the money was not available, according to the sheriff’s office.
The 33-year-old is accused of immediately moving the funds to another account and using some of the money to buy a new car and a house, authorities said.
Sheriff’s spokesman, Capt. Jason Rivarde, said that although the money was put into her account, “it’s not her money.”
She has no legal claim to that money. Even if it was put in there by mistake. It was an accounting error,” he added.
Charles Schwab & Co. sued Spadoni on Tuesday in federal court.
The company tried to contact her several times to have the transferred funds returned but were unsuccessful, according to Rivarde.
So far, about 75 per cent 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 client receives an overpayment of funds, the client is required to return the full amount.
“If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on a utility payment, they would want that money returned or credited to them. This is no different,” Rivarde said.
Spadoni is being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on a $50,000 bond.
