Attorney faces family theft accusations

Diane Lynn Rohrman already charged in husband’s overdose death

A Chester County attorney already awaiting trial on charges of giving her husband a fatal dose of heroin is being held in a Bucks County prison, facing new accusations that she stole tens of thousands of dollars from her father, looting his bank accounts and spending money from him through credit card fraud.

Diane Lynn Rohrman was arrested last month and charged with multiple counts of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, access device fraud and identity theft in the case that stems from allegations by her father, Gerald Rohrman, that she had abused the power of attorney he signed over to her in 2016.

According to an arrest affidavit filed in court by Warminster Detective David Bonacquisti, Diane Rohrman transferred $250,000 from an investment account he owns to a saving account, on which she wrote multiple checks to pay bills and get cash.

She also used Gerald Rohrman’s account information to set up credit cards in his name without his knowledge, then used those cards to spend more than $17,000 for her own purposes, rather than his welfare, as the power of attorney document specifies.

Gerald Rohrman originally reported the alleged thefts in August 2019, but charges were not filed against Diane Rohrman until Dec. 21. Bonacquisti estimated the amount of money she took from her father at more than $168,000.

“It took years to investigate it,” said Diane Rohrman’s sister and one of Gerald Rohrman’s other daughters, Christine Koper, in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “It was an absolute night

mare, but I guess COVID had a lot to do with it.”

Diane Lynn Rohrman, 48, of West Chester, was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Daniel J. Finello of Warminster, Bucks County on Dec. 23. He set bail at $50,000 cash, which she was not able to post. She is currently being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 10.

West Chester attorney Eric Stand, who represents Rohrman in her criminal case in Chester County stemming from the August 2019 death of her husband and also represented her in a civil action regarding her handling of Gerald Rohrman’s accounts, declined comment on the charges Wednesday. She is scheduled for trial on the 2019 charges before Common Pleas Court Judge Analisa Sondergaard later this month.

Rohrman worked as a product liability lawyer and mediator before surrendering his license to practice law in May. Since then, she reportedly has been operating a landscaping business.

In August 2019, the same month that Gerald Rohrman reported the suspicious activity on his financial accounts to Bonacquisti, Diane Rohrman was charged by state police with drug delivery resulting in death, a felony. Those charges involve the death of her husband, 41-year-old Emeka “Ziggy” Nwadiora Jr. at the home they shared off MarshalltonThorndale Road.

State police said they were called to the home around 6:45 p.m. on Aug. 17, 2019, by Rohrman, who said she had found her husband dead in their living room of an apparent drug overdose. According to the arrest affidavit, Rohrman’s account of how her husband — who was on house arrest for a parole violation at the time of his death — could have gotten ahold of the heroin that killed him changed over time as she spoke with the investigating officer, state Trooper Aaron Botts.

An addict, Nwadiora had passed a drug screen on Aug. 15 at a meeting with his parole officer, Rohrman told the trooper.

Initially, she said that Nwadiora had not left the house for two days because of his house arrest, but that he may have arranged to have the heroin he took delivered to him surreptitiously by her through a friend. Rohrman said Nwadiora had asked her to meet someone in Delaware County, where the couple had previously lived, who wanted to give him a pair of shoes to add to his sneaker collection.

She said she picked the shoebox up from the unnamed friend, and that when returning home with it her husband “became distant” and went to a separate portion of the house. Rohrman told Botts that the shoes might have had the heroin inside them without her knowing.

But when Botts asked to see the shoes Rohrman said she had brought home with her, she was unable to identify the pair or the empty box. As the trooper went with Rohrman through the home looking for the shoe box, he

wrote, he noticed several wax bags that are typical packaging for heroin — many still full.

At some point, Rohrman showed Botts a video of Nwadiora in the throes of his overdose that she said she had recorded so she could show him how he acted towards her when he was high on heroin. In it, the trooper saw Nwadiora slide off the couch and slump to the floor after telling Rohrman he had used seven or eight bags of heroin.

The video showed Rohrman leaving the room, returning with cocaine, which she applied to his mouth in order to revive him. She said Nwadiora had told her to do so in the past, and that she “had also seen it done on television.”

But later, after Botts arranged for her to be interviewed in a patrol car outside her home, Rohrman allegedly acknowledged that she had knowingly delivered the heroin to Nwadiora after he threatened to assault her if she did not. She said she drove to a shopping center in Delaware County where she purchased $400 worth of heroin and cocaine, and which she then brought home.

According to her story, Nwadiora used some of the heroin, then fell asleep and became unresponsive. In addition to trying to wake him with the cocaine, Rohrman also used cold compresses to try to revive him and “even rocked him gently a few times in an effort to wake him up,” according to Botts’ affidavit.

When he eventually stopped breathing, she said, she called 9-1-1 and began CPR until emergency medical personnel arrived.