Worker embezzled $750K, spent it on ‘lavish’ family vacations, California officials say
A woman accused of embezzling $750,000 from her employer and spending it on “lavish” family vacations has been sentenced to prison, California prosecutors say.
The 41-year-old Camarillo woman was given a prison sentence of four years and four months after pleading guilty last year to multiple felonies related to the embezzlement, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said in a June 24 news release.
“Despite having treated the defendant like a family member, the defendant stole from the victim hundreds of times,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise, who prosecuted the case, said in the release.
In 2016, the business owner hired the woman to work as an office manager and bookkeeper, managing financial accounts for multiple Ventura County companies, as well as their personal accounts, prosecutors said.
During her nearly three years of employment, prosecutors said the woman embezzled about $750,000, which included purchases made with her employer’s business credit card.
Using the embezzled funds, the woman “took her family on lavish vacations to Europe, Mexico, Nashville and Las Vegas,” prosecutors said.
The woman also used the stolen money toward cellphone bills, jewelry and designer goods from “high-end retailers, including Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton,” according to prosecutors.
She paid her mortgage and credit card bills using unauthorized electronic fund transfers, prosecutors said, adding that the woman also took cash from one of her employer’s businesses.
While she was employed, the woman did not report any of the funds as income on her taxes, according to prosecutors.
In addition to stealing from her employer, prosecutors said the woman approached a coworker about “a short-term loan to qualify for a mortgage used to purchase a house.”
Unbeknownst to the coworker, the woman used their information and signature on a letter of support sent to a mortgage company to show her “credit worthiness.”
An investigation was launched three years after the woman was hired when the employer’s accountant noticed “discrepancies in bank deposits,” according to the office.
Prosecutors said the woman was fired in May 2019.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department issued a warrant for the woman’s arrest in October 2020 “after an extensive investigation,” prosecutors said.
In May 2023, the woman pleaded guilty to seven counts of grand theft, one count of identity theft and one count of filing a false or fraudulent tax return, prosecutors said.
“She admitted she stole more than $500,000,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said they determined the woman owed $750,000 in restitution.
Since entering a guilty plea in May 2023, prosecutors said the woman has paid $300,000 back to her employer.
During her sentencing hearing, the woman was ordered to pay $662,654 more to her employer, as well as “$221,530 in restitution, interest and penalties to the California Franchise Tax Board,” according to prosecutors.
Ventura County is about a 70-mile drive northwest from Los Angeles.
This story was originally published June 26, 2024 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Worker embezzled $750K, spent it on ‘lavish’ family vacations, California officials say."
