A Lubbock woman was indicted last month by a grand jury in Albuquerque for wire fraud and accused of stealing more than $550,000.
The grand jury indicted Selma Morales, age not listed, of Lubbock. On Friday, a judge approved conditions of allowing her to remain free until her trial date.
The indictment said, “At all relevant times, the defendant was an employee of Faddoul, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C. … in Lubbock, Texas where she worked as the Firm’s Financial Manager and bookkeeper.”
“As part of her job responsibilities, the defendant traveled to the Firm’s other office locations, including offices in Albuquerque, Hobbs, and Las Cruces, New Mexico…,” the indictment said.
The money paid for (among other things) groceries, designer product, jewelry, plastic surgery, clothing, sports apparel, tickets to a Paul McCartney concert, a trip to Las Vegas, and funeral expenses for a relative.
Her terms of release include limitations on travel, and Morales cannot incur new financial responsibilities without the court’s permission.
Morales was accused of taking the money between May 18, 2009 and May 2015.
A portion of the indictment is as follows:
The defendant’s scheme and artifice consisted of regularly and routinely using the Firm’s funds to pay for unauthorized personal charges and expenditures.
As part of her scheme and artifice, the defendant used at least four credit cards to pay for personal charges and expenditures, including but not limited to payments for meals, groceries, car repairs, car and home insurance, property taxes, funeral expenses for a relative, clothing, sports apparel/equipment, designer products, jewelry, plastic surgery, family vacation/travel (including, trips to San Francisco, CA in 2012, to Seattle, WA in 2013, and to Las Vegas, NV in 2014), entertainment (including, season tickets to college athletic events and Paul McCartney concert tickets), apartment rental payments and college tuition payments. Some of these credit cards were in defendant’s name, and at least one of them was in the name of S.F., a person known to the grand jury. The unauthorized personal charges and expenditures by the defendant exceeded $550,000 in value.
As part of her scheme and artifice, the defendant regularly paid down unauthorized credit card charges and expenditures by making online funds transfers from the Firm’s Operating Account at Plains Capital Bank (hereinafter “PCB Account”) to the corresponding credit card company.
