Nanny Charged with Forging Dozens of Checks from Employers’ Bank Account

BOSTON – A Randolph woman who was employed as a nanny was arrested today and charged in U.S. District Court in Boston with forging 65 checks totaling over $280,000 from her employers’ bank account.

Stephanie L. Fox, 30, was arrested today and charged in a criminal complaint with three counts of bank fraud.  Fox will have an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell this afternoon.

According to the complaint affidavit, Fox was employed as a nanny from about February 2013 until August 2015 when her employers discovered that for more than a year, Fox had been writing checks on one of their bank accounts and forging one of their signatures on the checks.  Fox avoided detection by destroying the bank account statements when they arrived at her employers’ home.  In total, it is alleged that Fox forged 65 checks totaling $281,917, using the money to purchase jewelry, including a diamond pendant necklace and three Movado watches, as well as for travel to places such as the Bahamas, Aruba, Hawaii, Newport, Disney, and Cape Cod.   

The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $1 million, and restitution.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Commissioner William Evans of the Boston Police Department, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the criminal complaint are allegations.  The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.