![\"Jennifer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rivera-Jennifer-mugshot.jpeg\")
Jennifer Rivera (Booking photo courtesy Montgomery County District Attorney)<\/p>\nLOWER MERION \u2014 A Lower Merion School Board member is accused of embezzling more than $50,000 from a previous employer and using the stolen funds to pay for personal expenses, including a vacation for family and friends.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Rivera, 41, of the 100 block of Leland Road in the Bala Cynwyd section of Lower Merion, turned herself in to township police on Monday and was arraigned before District Court Judge Adam T. Katzman on felony charges of theft by deception, receiving stolen property and access device fraud in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between 2024 and 2026.<\/p>\n
The alleged thefts occurred while Rivera worked for SMB, a law firm marketing agency, located on Saint Asaphs Road in Bala Cynwyd.<\/p>\n
Rivera was released on $25,000 unsecured bail to await a Sept. 2 preliminary hearing on the charges before District Court Judge Karen Eisner Zucker. As a condition of bail, Rivera is prohibited from having contact with anyone at SMB.<\/p>\n
Rivera, a Democrat, was elected to the school board last November and was in the first year of her four-year term, according to election records.<\/p>\n
The theft charges are not related to Rivera\u2019s position on the school board.<\/p>\n
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Lower Merion Police Superintendent Andrew Block announced Rivera\u2019s arrest on Monday.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Rivera (Booking photo courtesy Montgomery County District Attorney)<\/p>\n
An investigation began in June when officials at SMB reported they became aware that Rivera used her company-issued credit card for personal expenses dating back to September 2024, according to a criminal complaint filed by Lower Merion Detective Daniel Gilbert.<\/p>\n
Court documents indicate company officials learned Rivera allegedly used $1,339 in company funds to pay for videography and photography services for an October 2025 Bar Mitzvah for one of her friends.<\/p>\n
On June 11, 2026, company officials conducted an interview with Rivera regarding the funds, and she was told she would be placed on administrative leave pending the results of an audit.<\/p>\n
\u201cRivera became distraught and stated that the accusation put her in a \u2018dark spot.\u2019 IT revoked her access to all company accounts, and her company laptop, keys and credit cards were confiscated before she left the building,\u201d Gilbert wrote in the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n
Rivera, according to court documents, contacted company officials a few days later to ask if they could \u201cjust fire her as the waiting is adding stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company audit determined Rivera also booked travel, including airfare, hotel reservations and vehicle rentals, totaling $25,307, for herself, family and friends, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
Company officials explained it is not uncommon for spouses to accompany an employee for travel; however, the employee must reimburse SMB through payroll deduction. Additional family members, friends and acquaintances are not authorized to travel.<\/p>\n
The audit also uncovered that Rivera had booked a future trip to the Bahamas using the company credit card\u2019s points, which carried a monetary value of $9,065, without authorization, according to court papers.<\/p>\n
Rivera also used company funds to make unauthorized purchases, totaling $23,596, on Amazon for personal items, including a dress and bathroom accessories, according to the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n
The total amount of Rivera\u2019s alleged theft \u201cfor personal gain\u201d reached $50,243.31, Gilbert alleged in the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
During the investigation, township detectives conducted an extensive review of the company\u2019s financial records and interviewed other SMB employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOWER MERION \u2014 A Lower Merion School Board member is accused of embezzling more than $50,000 from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[46,182,183,185,184,186,139,28,1015],"class_list":["post-271528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-courts","tag-local-news","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-mer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}