(Photo: Bartolomiej Pietrzyk/Shutterstock.com)Harrisburg Lawyer Gets Jail Time for Stealing From Her Former Firm
Nichole Collins was sentenced to 18 months to three years after pleading guilty to theft and other charges.
October 04, 2019 at 01:45 PM
3 minute read
A Harrisburg lawyer has been sentenced to jail time and probation for stealing from her law firm after being fired.
The lawyer, Nichole Collins, was disbarred on consent shortly after she was charged with burglary, theft, forgery and other crimes. She previously practiced at Shaffer & Engle, and faced criminal charges over a string of alleged break-ins, and for taking thousands of dollars from the firm and its lawyers' personal bank accounts and credit cards.
Collins was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months to three years in jail for theft by unlawful taking, as well as a total of five years' probation for other charges. A number of charges against her were withdrawn.
According to charging documents, Collins worked at Shaffer & Engle for three years. The firm has two other lawyers, managing partner Jeff Engle and Elisabeth Pasqualini.
Engle had noticed that an employee had been stealing from one of the law firm's bank accounts, charging documents said. The account was intended to cover work-related costs like filing fees, and the firm's lawyers all had authorization to write checks.
According to the criminal complaint, Collins admitted to Engle and Pasqualini that she had been taking from the cost account. The firm's accountant found more than $8,000 worth of checks she had used to withdraw cash from the account.
Collins was fired from the firm Aug. 14, 2017, and was banned from the office.
Twice in December 2017, Shaffer & Engle called police because they found evidence that someone had broken into the office. The lawyers noticed that certain files, including a file on Collins and her previous alleged thefts, and personal possessions were missing. And computer equipment was covered in "an unknown sticky substance," the criminal complaint said.
According to charging documents, Pasqualini noticed that her credit cards were missing as well, and throughout December she received security alerts about hundreds of dollars of charges to her credit cards that she did not make herself. The largest purchase was for $250 worth of sex toys from an online store.
According to disciplinary filings, Collins also allegedly overbilled in an amount that cost the firm $97,000 and engaged in "side-deals" with clients that resulted in $90,000 worth of losses to the firm.
Collins' lawyer, Bryan Walk of Hershey, did not immediately respond to a call for comment Friday.
The Office of Attorney General, which prosecuted the case, also did not respond immediately to a call for comment Friday. Engle, Shaffer & Engle's managing partner, also did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
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