By Steve Neavling
A TSA agent is accused of stealing a nearly $23,000 government paycheck sent to a defense lawyer appointed to federal defendants who can’t afford attorneys.
TSA Agent Diamondique Richardson was arrested at her workplace at Kennedy Airport, The New York Daily News reports.
She and an accomplice, Cinque Lipscomb, are the latest to be charged with stealing U.S. Treasury checks sent to lawyers who represent indigent clients.
A federal law required the paychecks to be sent out in the mail, a technicality that enabled Richardson and Lipscomb to steal the paycheck, federal prosecutors allege.
Congress changed the law on March 23 to allow lawyers to receive the paychecks by direct deposit.
Richardson and Lipscomb are accused of scheming to steal the paychecks with others over Facebook messages.
The paycheck was intended for a lawyer assigned to a federal defendant through a Criminal Justice Act Panel. The check was for $22,687.72.
