Former Register of Deeds treasurer, Laura Riddick is back in the news;  not to reopen her embezzlement case, but to file a lawsuit against the state of North Carolina.

 Back in 2017, Laura Riddick was found stealing money from the company she worked for long-term. Ms. Riddick formerly worked for the N.C Department of Cultural Resources located in Wake County from 1990 to 1996. In the same year she received the honor of being elected to be the North Carolina Treasurer and again in 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012, and finally in 2016. This gained her approximately twenty-nine years of experience in office. This allowed her to get the advantage of knowing the way things work behind the desk to smuggle over $2.3 million dollars from taxpayer money. Records from Riddicks’s bank account had shown constant deposits occurring weekly, sometimes even daily, which further indicated something was not right. After thorough investigation, Riddick was tried for six counts of embezzlement and pleaded guilty late last year. Riddick was required to pay back over nine hundred thousand dollars in restitution from what she had taken, as well as serve five to seven years in the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.

 While serving time in prison, Riddick still gained eight nine thousand dollars a year for her retirement from office that occurred last year in the fall. The new treasurer, Dale Folwell, is making sure those payments will be discontinued. Riddick is suing Steven Toole, director of the Retirement Systems Division and the state of North Carolina’s government for misapplication of  the law as well as violation of her rights as an American citizen. At this time, a trial date has not been set. Further information will be given later.