Woman Who Stole $750K From Elderly Woman Sentenced Up To 6 Years: Nassau DA

MINEOLA, NY — A New Hyde Park woman was sentenced to three to six years in prison after she stole roughly $750K from a 91-year-old woman, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Friday.

Elizabeth Reilly, 50, pleaded guilty on May 4 to second-degree grand larceny. The woman had entrusted her finances to her attorney, who was Reilly's employer, the DA said.

"Elizabeth Reilly took advantage of her access to an elderly woman’s finances and stole nearly three-quarters of a million dollars of the woman’s life savings over four years," Donnelly said in a news release. "The defendant will now serve significant prison time for her theft. My office is committed to protecting Nassau County seniors."

Reilly's employer, a Floral Park attorney, had a verbal agreement with the woman that he would handle her finances as she began executing a Power of Attorney, Living Will and other documents with him, officials said.

Reilly had access to the woman's bank statements, check books, credit cards and financial statements after the law office's address became the mailing address on record for the woman's financial institutions as part of an agreement, prosecutors said.

Between 2016 and 2020, more than 250 checks were written from the woman's bank accounts and made out to Reilly or to cash and deposited into Reilly's accounts or an account held by Reilly's husband, investigators said. The deposited checks totaled more than $675,000, the DA said.

Reilly also used the woman's credit cards to make unauthorized purchases for her own gain, officials said. Charges included personal purchases, beauty products, a gym membership, and airline tickets, authorities said. Reilly also made purchases using her own PayPal account and then paid her account with the woman's credit card, prosecutors said. Reilly paid the woman's credit card balances online, using the victim’s bank accounts, the DA said.

The theft was discovered in October 2020 when Reilly’s employer reviewed the woman's credit card statements and saw questionable activity, prosecutors said.

The case was referred to NCDA’s Financial Crimes Bureau in February 2021.