Friday, November 6, 2009

Pennsylvania Woman Charged With Embezzling $500+K From Auto Dealership

Elisa Maria Liberatore-Thomas, 32, of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was arraigned yesterday on charges she embezzled $534,248 from the Tregembo Ford auto dealership in Bentleyville, where she had been employed as a business manager. Liberatore-Thomas, who had responsibility for making daily bank deposits for the dealership, allegedly began making unauthorized electronic transfers as well as depositing dealership funds into her own accounts at three separate bank accounts at the National City Bank branch in Washington County, beginning in January 2004 and continuing until January 2008. Some of the accounts were reportedly held in the name of her husband, Jeffrey Thomas, although he has not been charged in the case at this time. Specifically, Liberatore-Thomas was charged with theft, receiving stolen property, dealing in unlawful activities, and theft by deception. She had been employed as a manager at the dealership since 2001.

Read the story here and here.

Update (4/19/12): A judge has thrown out the charges against Liberatore-Thomas, now 35, after a "Rule 600" motion by her attorneys for a speedy trial. 

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