Woman pleads guilty to embezzling over $300K from law firm in Roanoke

Odyssey Fields
·1 min read
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ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — The Roanoke City Commonwealth Attorney says a woman has pled guilty to several charges including credit card fraud and embezzlement after taking thousands from her employer.

According to Attorney Donald Caldwell, Amy Padgett was previously indicted by the Roanoke City Grand Jury on the following:

  • Four counts of embezzlement

  • Two counts of credit card fraud,

  • Forgery

All charges were related to her employment with the Shapiro Law Firm, P.C. between 2019 and 2023. However, as part of her plea agreement, she was found guilty of credit card fraud, forgery, and two counts of embezzlement.

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According to evidence introduced into the court, Padgett was hired as a legal secretary for the law firm. As part of her position, she had access to the firm’s bank accounts and credit cards. From the start of 2020 to the end of 2022, Padget cashed more than $275,000 in checks written by herself from the Sharpio Law Firm accounts.

Attorney Caldwell says this amount was more than $180,000 over what she should have received from her salary.

As the Roanoke Police Department and Virginia State Bar continued their investigation, it was discovered that the Shapiro Law credit card was used to pay rent to Park Place Realty, LLC for Padgett’s home and beauty treatments. The attorney says the card was fraudulently used to pay for over $30,000 of her expenses.

The Roanoke City Commonwealth Attorney also learned that Padgett provided falsified bank statements to Virginia State Bar investigators.

The Attorney’s Office says Padgett is facing up to 55 years in prison.

Her sentencing is scheduled for July 20 at 10 a.m. at the Circuit Court of Roanoke City.

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