Selma Nolan Cody faces 7 years in prison.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: A former aide to director M. Night Shyamalan and his wife Bhavna Shyamalan has pleaded guilty to stealing $15,000 from the couple through unauthorized purchases she made off a company credit card.
Shyamalan’s former house manager Selma Nolan Cody pleaded guilty this week to a single count of theft by unlawful taking, reported the Associated Press. The third-degree felony carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for February 4.
The Daily Local News of West Chester, in Pennsylvania, reported the 34-year-old Cody was accused of making 195 personal purchases from Amazon, Netflix and other outlets on a card Shyamalan and his psychologist wife gave to her for house-related items. The value of the charges ranged from $8171 from Amazon to $412 from Netflix.
The Shyamalans had hired Cody as a house manager for their home deep in the horse country of Willistown in June 2012, and she was issued a credit card in her name through M. Night’s production company in Berwyn, Blinding Edge Productions, to make purchases in line with her duties, according to The Reporter.
According to an affidavit prepared by Willistown Detective Stephen Jones, the township department was contacted in August by Lisa Liberati, vice president of operations for Blinding Edge, and said that several charges to a credit card issued to Cody had been made but not authorized by the Shyamalans.
Liberati told the detective that Bhavna Shyamalan had received the purchases and confirmed that the merchandise and services had not been OK’d by either her or her husband. She noted that the bulk of the purchases — 174 of the total — had come after Cody was no longer employed by the Shyamalan family.
Jones stated in his criminal complaint that records from the online services showed that the e-mail address used in the purchases belonged to Cody, and the merchandise had all been delivered to her address in Reading.