A former nanny has admitted to stealing more than $430,000 from a Montgomery County family she worked for and using it to buy a house and to visit a casino.
Prosecutors say Kadiatu Sahid Kamara, 50, of Gaithersburg, wrote herself about 118 checks from the couple's money market account over about two years while she was caring for their children.
Kamara pleaded guilty Monday to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft in the case.
She had never been authorized to write checks from the account, but between May 2011 and May 2013, she forged the signature of an account holder on the checks and then deposited them into her own bank account, prosecutors said.
The amount stolen was about $431,542.
Kamara used some of it to buy a house in Africa, to send money transfers and to play games at a casino in Charles Town, West Virginia, authorities said.
The victims discovered the theft and fired Kamara in May 2013. Shortly after, they received a handwritten letter from her, according to the criminal complaint against her.
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"I ask your forgiveness. You can take me to court, send me in jail and throw the keys into the sea, your actions will be justified," the letter from Kamara read in part. "I stole your money to build my house in Africa."
However, in the letter, she disputed the amount of money stolen.
Kamara faces up to 20 years in prison for mail fraud and a mandatory minimum of two years consecutive to any other sentence imposed. She will be sentenced Oct. 14.
She has also agreed to pay restitution of $431,542.
