HARVEY, La. — A former 911 dispatcher for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $1.2 million accidentally deposited into her brokerage account, authorities said.
According to our partners at The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate, 33-year-old Kelyn Spadoni of Harvey was fired after she was booked for refusing to return the money.
Spadoni is also being sued in federal court by her bank, Charles Schwab & Co. The company accused her of dodging their calls and avoiding contact with them to avoid repaying the money.
According to that lawsuit, Spadoni opened an account with Charles Schwab in January and tried to move $82.56 from that account into a brokerage account managed by Fidelity on Feb. 23.
Instead, due to a glitch in the system Charles Schwab used to transfer assets, the bank deposited $1,205,619 into the brokerage account.
The next day, when they tried to send a notice to Fidelity to reclaim the money, it was already gone. According to the lawsuit and booking charges, Spadoni had withdrawn it from the Fidelity account.
The lawsuit alleges that she avoided phone calls, emails and text messages from Charles Schwab about the missing money for several weeks.
"By her conduct, Spadoni has made it clear she does not intend to return the mistakenly transferred funds to Schwab," the lawsuit said.
The bank's attorneys contacted the sheriff's office, which opened a criminal investigation into the theft. According to the newspaper, detectives determined that she had spent some of the money on a new house and car.
About 75% of the money has been recovered, a JPSO spokesman told the newspaper.
Spadoni had been with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office 911 center for over four years when she was arrested.
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