A stolen $2 million funded an NC paralegal’s ‘extravagant lifestyle.’ Then she got caught.
Jennifer Elaine Roarke was enjoying an “extravagant lifestyle,” using millions in funds she had access to, authorities said. Then she got caught.
The Hickory paralegal admitted in court to transferring more than $2 million from clients’ accounts into her own accounts at least 190 times over 14 years, Dena J King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina said in a release Friday.
Roarke embezzled the money to pay off credit cards, fund a mortgage and buy a car, to fund what King described as “extravagant.”
From 2007 to 2021, the 54-year-old managed trusts and bank accounts as an assistant and paralegal for a Hickory-based law firm, according to a criminal indictment after her arrest in July. During that time, she also went by Jennifer Claveria.
She was employed with Young, Morphis, Bach & Taylor, LLP, the law firm confirmed to Hickory Daily Record after her arrest.
Included in the 190 wires she sent herself was a single 2015 transfer totaling $100,000, court records show. In 2019, she transferred another $150,000, but this time it was via more than 40 unauthorized wires.
Police issued warrants for her arrest on July 18. She turned herself in on July 20 and later pleaded not guilty, court records show.
Roarke ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud, and police released her from jail on bond. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
The wire fraud charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a $250,000 fine.
