Paralegal admits stealing almost $300,000 from Foley lawyer, forging his signature

By Brendan Kirby | bkirby@al.comPress-Register
on November 13, 2012 at 5:00 PM, updated November 13, 2012 at 5:13 PM

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MOBILE, Alabama -– An Elberta woman today admitted to stealing almost $300,000 from a Foley lawyer for whom she worked and then forging his signature on letters to her creditors.
Katrina Duke Williamson pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. The identity theft charge carries a mandatory-minimum prison term of two years in addition to her punishment on the bank fraud charge, which the U.S. Probation Office estimates would be at least three years and five months.
Court records describe aParalegal admits stealing almost $300,000 from Foley lawyer, forging his signatureFebruary 2008 until June of last year.
Assistant Federal Defender Latisha Colvin said her client was a paralegal with bookkeeping responsibilities. She said she did not want to comment until the defendant’s sentencing hearing in May.
The written plea agreement contains standard language offering a recommendation for leniency in exchange for providing “substantial assistance” to law enforcement officials. The timing of the sentencing hearing –- more than six months away -– suggests that Williamson may be cooperating.
According to the plea agreement, Williamson cashed a large number of checks for her personal use. The agreement pegs the total at about $294,000, although the document states that law enforcement authorities are still trying to determine the exact amount.
The defendant also had cashier’s checks drawn on embezzled money, according to the plea agreement, which cites an incident on Sept. 9, 2008, in which she wrote out a cashier’s check from a client trust fund and then used it for a down payment on a new Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck.
Williamson also wrote about seven letters to her creditors, fraudulently using Middleton’s signature block to make it appear as though he was representing her.
In one letter to Washington Mutual Bank, Williamson posed as Middleton and wrote that he was sending $1,028.95 on her behalf, the plea document states. Williamson had stolen the money from Middleton’s Debt Settlement Trust account in early April 2009, according to the plea agreement.
It is one of six separate similar instances alleged in the indictment.
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