Woman Allegedly Steals $350K, Spends It on Casino Trips

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A former law firm employee in Stark County is charged with stealing $350,000 from clients and spending it on casino trips to West Virginia, Fox 8 News reports.

Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, says that a criminal information was filed against Catherine Chenoweth, 56, of Akron. Court records indicate that she is charged with one count of wire fraud related to the allegations.

Authorities believe that Chenoweth used at least some of the stolen cash on gambling trips to casinos in West Virginia.

Dettelbach says that Chenoweth worked for several years as a paralegal for a law firm in Uniontown until Jan. 2010. That’s when her employment was terminated.

In her position, Chenoweth had access to client bank accounts. Because she was required to conduct business transactions for clients, Chenoweth had access to checks, passwords and other sensitive data.

The information alleges that she used her job to defraud the firm’s clients of approximately $351,700 by, among other things, forging checks drawn on client accounts. She then spent some of the money at casinos located in West Virginia.

Dettelbach stresses that an information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.