A 48-year-old Ohio woman is facing up to 20 years in prison after a federal grand jury indicted her for allegedly pocketing more than $462,000 from the Erie law firm where she worked.
Yelena Andrews, a resident of Conneaut, Ohio, is the sole defendant named in a five-count federal indictment charging her with wire fraud and theft. U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti announced the charges on Friday, following an investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to federal prosecutors, the embezzlement took place over a ten-month period, running from roughly May 2024 to March 2025. The indictment alleges that Andrews used her position as a paralegal at the unnamed Erie law firm to orchestrate a scheme driven by false and fraudulent pretenses. By the time the activity was discovered, Andrews had allegedly siphoned a total of $462,376 from the firm…