TYLER, Texas (KETK) — A former receptionist at a Tyler law firm was arrested on Wednesday for stealing more than $30,000 from clients by falsifying receipts and hiding payments, an affidavit stated.
Sandra Arroyo Yanez was arrested on theft of property of more than $30,000 but less than $150,000. This comes after a lengthy Smith County Sheriff’s Office investigation that began late last year when deputies were contacted by an associate attorney from Moran Law Firm.
The associate attorney said Yanez was hired in April 2024 as a receptionist and was responsible for accepting client payments including cash payments. However, the associate attorney told detectives that Yanez was using her own, non-firm approved receipt book, and issued receipts to the firm’s clients “as a way of hiding the monies from business records.”
The law firm claims they did not know these clients existed and hence were unaware of their obligation to provide legal services.
The associate attorney said they learned of this incident on Jan. 1, when clients began calling for a status update on their cases, but the firm was unable to locate any case information.
When the law firm confronted Yanez about their discovery, Yanez reportedly admitted to taking $5,000 from a client. She then signed an affidavit and admission to her theft for the law firm, agreeing to repay them $300 a month until she finished paying everything she had stolen.
As apart of the agreement, Yanez was terminated from her job. Eight days later, the firm reportedly found a similar incident where another client had paid $4,000 to retain legal services and Yanez was responsible for receiving the money but had not reported the money.
At this point, the firm pursued criminal charges against Yanez.
On Feb. 3, another victim came forward, stating that he had met with Yanez on multiple occasions while she was still working for the firm. The victim provided four receipts dated September, October, and December 2024 showing payments of $3,500, $800, $1,000, and $1,000, totaling $6,300, all of which were signed by Yanez.
The victim said he paid Yanez a total of $7,800 in cash although Yanez only provided him with receipts for the $6,300.
“[The victim] reported that Yanez would meet him in the parking garage of the Moran Law Firm office, at a church location within the City of Tyler and would meet at random times such as 6 a.m. during the week, 8 a.m. on Saturdays and other times outside of normal business hours,” the affidavit stated.
Once the victim did not receive updates from the firm, he insisted on speaking with the attorney. Sometime in October 2024, Yanez complied and reportedly placed a younger woman on the line. Yanez reportedly implied the young woman was an interpreter for the attorney who only spoke English.
The victim said the “attorney” sounded very young and did not provide any real legal guidance. After the lack of information, the victim went to the firm in person where he learned that Yanez was no longer an employee and the firm had no record of him as a client.
Investigators learned that Yanez still had a cellphone application downloaded to her phone and had been intercepting calls to the firm, including phone calls from the victim. Officials believe Yanez was intercepting incoming calls from people she allegedly stole money from to cover her tracks.
On one occasion, Yanez told the victim not to believe anything the firm told him. She also offered to meet with the victim to go over his legal issues and would help resolve this issue for him.
Investigators instructed the victim to arrange a meeting with Yanez at a location they had met before for Wednesday at 9 a.m. and devised a tactical response to take her into custody.
Officials observed Yanez arrive, exit the truck and enter the establishment. Once inside, detectives took her into custody and conducted a pat search for weapons, but did not locate any on Yanez. She then reportedly gave authorities a verbal consent to search her truck, where authorities said they found items of value to the case.
“Yanez’s purse was located on the front passenger seat which contained $197, her passport and other family members passports and forms of government identification, and a payment receipt issued from Moran law Firm in the amount of $203.03 dated Jan. 2,” the affidavit stated.
A notebook was also found in her purse that contained her banking information including accounts, logins and passcodes. A folder was also found with official documents of her victims.
During an interview, Yanez reportedly told investigators that she and her family had been struggling financially over the past few years and had already borrowed $30,000 to catch up on their bills. Yanez said she felt bad that her husband had to take on the stress load of the bills, leading her to steal money from the firm to help contribute.
According to the affidavit, Yanez admitted to stealing $16,700 and admitted to meet the victim outside of the office to collect money she had stolen from the firm.
After speaking with Yanez, investigators were once again contacted by the law firm that there was a fifth victim who had made four payments totaling $8,000 in cash to Yanez for legal services but were not listed as clients.
To this date, Yanez has reportedly stolen $7,800 from the first victim, $4,000 from the second victim, $5,000 from the third victim, $6,300 from a fourth victim and $8,000 from the last victim. The amount totals to $31,1000.
