FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LAW OFFICE MANAGER SENTENCED TO TEN YEARS IN PRISON  

San Antonio, Texas; November 22, 2005:

Terry Paxton, a forty-two-year-old woman was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by Judge Raymond Angelini of the 187^th District Court for stealing over one hundred and forty thousand dollars from her former employer, a law firm.  Mrs. Paxton was charged with Misappropriation of Fiduciary Property and Forgery.

The charges stem from money that she stole while in a position of trust for the law office.  The monies were diverted into Mrs. Paxton’s account through one hundred and eighteen checks she wrote to herself over a period of three years.  According to the victims, Mrs. Paxton used the misapplied money to purchase a motorcycle, a pickup truck, and other items for herself and her family.  

During the punishment hearing, the defense counsel representing Mrs. Paxton called on various witnesses to testify in her behalf.  Although the defendant’s husband asked the Judge to give his wife probation, he admitted to the prosecutor that, in the past, he has had to help pay off money that his wife had stolen from a previous employer.

For more information, contact Adriana Biggs, Chief, White Collar Crime Division, at 335-2404.