Louisiana Woman Arrested After Refusing to Return $1.2 Million Mistakenly Put Into Her Account

A former dispatcher from Gretna was arrested last week, accused of refusing to return more than $1.2 million that had been accidentally deposited into her brokerage account.

33-year-old Kelyn Spadoni was taken into custody Wednesday on charges of theft valued over $25,000, bank fraud, and illegal transmission of monetary funds.

She was fired from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office shortly after her arrest.

Authorities say that once Spadoni discovered the money in her account she immediately moved the funds into another account and used some of the money to buy a new home and car.

According to reports, there was a clerical error by Charles Schwab, a major financial services corporation. The company erroneously deposited more than $1.2 million back in February into her brokerage account when it should have only been $82. When the bank attempted to recover the money, the request was rejected because the money was not available.

Capt. Jason Rivarde, a sheriff’s spokesman, said that although the money was put into her account, “it’s not her money.”

“She has no legal claim to that money,” Rivarde added. “Even if it was put in there by mistake. It was an accounting error.”

Charles Schwab & Co. sued Spadoni in federal court on Tuesday. They say they tried to contact Spadoni several times to have the funds returned but those attempts were unsuccessful. Rivarde says that so far about 75% of the money has been recovered though.

The company argued in its lawsuit that Spadoni's account contract with Schwab states that if a client receives an overpayment of funds, the client is required to return the full amount.

“If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on a utility payment, they would want that money returned or credited to them. This is no different,” Rivarde said.