A former prosecutor in Virginia who was accused of embezzling and laundering cash supposed for crime victims and utilizing the funds to settle his playing money owed not too long ago pleaded responsible to felony expenses in reference to the scheme.
James Panagis Jr., who served within the Virginia Seashore Commonwealth’s Lawyer’s Workplace from 2015 to 2022, pleaded responsible to embezzlement of greater than $500, two counts of uttering a solid examine, and two counts of embezzlement by a public officer, based on The Virginian-Pilot.
The fees stem from an investigation the Commonwealth’s Lawyer’s Workplace launched in August 2022, 5 months after Panagis left the company “on his personal accord.”
Metropolis officers mentioned they initiated the probe after they found irregularities in Panagis’ recordsdata shortly after a sufferer reported they by no means obtained the complete quantity of restitution owed to them.
A state police agent who investigated the case discovered that the previous prosecutor used the restitution cash to repay private money owed from on-line playing.
The investigation uncovered the particular methodology Panagis used to hide the lacking restitution funds.
Authorities discovered that he would ask protection attorneys or different events in his instances to provide him a examine with a clean payee line. In trade, he would withdraw or cut back their expenses.
He wrote out pretend names sharing his initials “J.P.” on these clean checks, and would signal them in a manner the place anybody viewing the signatures might solely make out the letters “J” and “P.”
Then, he deposited these checks into his private account, however reported that the restitution cash had been paid in full.
Proof revealed that he stole checks within the quantities of $560 and $540, cash that was imagined to be reimbursed to 2 girls who had been defrauded by an worker. One other examine for $585 was additionally reportedly related to a case associated to wreck to a police car.
Authorities audited 600 instances Panagis labored on, which had been in comparison with his financial institution information and information from 12 on-line playing websites. Information revealed that Panagis regularly used BetMGM, and gave the impression to be playing “in any respect hours of the day and evening,” based on investigators.
When an investigator interviewed Panagis final summer season, he initially mentioned he didn’t bear in mind what occurred to the restitution cash however conceded that solely he might have been the prime suspect primarily based on the proof.
Sooner or later in the course of the interview, Panagis acquired emotional and admitted to combating alcohol and cocaine.
It’s unclear how a lot cash Panagis stole, however investigators found he ran this operation from September 2019 to September 2021.
A grand jury indicted Panagis final yr on a number of felony counts. Among the expenses, together with cash laundering, had been dropped as a part of his plea cut price.
He faces as much as 60 years in jail and will likely be sentenced in June.
