MINEOLA, N.Y. — A Hempstead woman was sentenced to one to three years in prison on Friday for stealing more than half a million dollars from a Nassau County law firm that managed trust accounts for people with special needs, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly.
Michelle Byrd, 55, pleaded guilty in April to grand larceny and criminal possession of forged instruments after embezzling $526,553 from seven trust accounts between 2014 and 2021. The accounts were set up to benefit individuals with special needs, including developmentally disabled adults and elderly clients.
“Byrd had a duty as a case manager for seven trusts to protect the firm’s vulnerable clients,” DA Donnelly said. “Instead, she acted in her own self-interest, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars… forcing a wheelchair-bound stroke victim to sell his home.”
Byrd was employed by a Nassau County-based law firm, where she managed trust funds. Over a seven-year period, she wrote hundreds of unauthorized checks to herself, forging the trustee’s signature and falsifying bank statements to cover her tracks, prosecutors said.
Her scheme unraveled in April 2021 when Chase Bank flagged a $2,500 check payable to Byrd. After a brief internal investigation, the firm fired Byrd and referred the case to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
Byrd has since paid $106,287.02 in restitution, and judgment orders totaling $420,266.41 have been issued to the law firm and its insurance company.
Despite the defense’s argument for leniency, the prosecution recommended a sentence of four to 12 years. Byrd was sentenced to one to three years. The case highlighted multiple victims, including a man with cerebral palsy, a woman who lost her limbs due to medical malpractice, and several elderly clients.