New Hyde Park resident Elizabeth Riley, 50, pleaded guilty to grand larceny on Thursday, May 4, the Nassau County District Attorney announced.
Reilly’s employer, a Floral Park attorney, verbally agreed to handle the finances of a 91-year-old woman while she worked with him to enforce her power of attorney, living will and more, the district attorney’s office reported.
According to the investigation, the law firm then became the mailing address of the victim’s bank as part of the agreement.
This meant Reilly had access to the victim’s bank statements, checkbook, credit cards, and more.
Over a four-year period (from 2016 to 2020), Riley allegedly wrote more than 250 checks from the victim’s bank account, all of which were made to Riley himself or in cash. She would then deposit the check into her or her husband’s bank account.
The deposited checks alone totaled more than $675,000, prosecutors said.
Reilly also allegedly used the victim’s credit card information to purchase airline tickets, beauty products, gym memberships, and more for herself. To pay off her accumulated credit card balance, she used the victim’s bank account.
On top of that, she would use her PayPal account to make purchases and pay with the victim’s credit card, the investigation said.
Reilly was arrested while her employer was reviewing suspicious account activity.
“The victim was advanced in age and knew it was financially reasonable to entrust her financial situation to her attorney,” District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement.
“She could not have anticipated that the defendant, who had access to her bank statements, checkbook and credit cards, would view her life savings as a convenient payday,”
She pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny and will return to court on Friday, July 7.
Reilly is expected to be sentenced to three to six years in prison.
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