Toms River Woman Charged In $100K Theft From Law Firm: Prosecutor

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Toms River woman is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the law firm where she worked as the office manager, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Patricia Vaughn, 62, was arrested and charged Friday following a 10-month investigation into the thefts from a Wall Township law firm, Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.

Wall Township police received a theft report from the owner of the law office in January, and the investigation found that Vaughn had made numerous unauthorized transfers from various business and personal accounts into the firm’s operating account from 2011 to 2019, the prosecutor's office said.

She then used the additional money from the operating account to give herself unauthorized salary increases and to issue herself extra paychecks totaling $105,552.50, the prosecutor's office said.

Vaughn is accused of hiding the transfers by creating false bank statements, the prosecutor said. She was charged and released on a summons.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Diane Aifer.

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