The employee embezzled PLN 750,000. dollars and spent it on vacation: officials from California

A woman accused of embezzling $750,000 from her employer and spending it on a “lavish” family vacation has been sentenced to prison, California prosecutors say.

A 41-year-old Camarillo woman was sentenced to four years and four months in prison after pleading guilty last year to multiple counts of embezzlement, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said in a June 24 press release.

“Even though he treated the defendant like a family member, he robbed the victim hundreds of times,” Senior Assistant District Attorney Howard Wise, who prosecuted the case, said in the release.

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In 2016, the business owner hired the woman to work as an office manager and bookkeeper, managing the financial accounts of multiple Ventura County businesses as well as their personal accounts, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors said she embezzled about $750,000 over nearly three years of employment, including purchases made on her employer’s credit card.

Using the embezzled funds, the woman “took her family on lavish vacations to Europe, Mexico, Nashville and Las Vegas,” prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, the woman also used the stolen money to pay for cellphone bills, jewelry and designer goods from “high-end retailers including Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.”

She paid off mortgage and credit card bills using unauthorized electronic transfers, prosecutors say, adding that the woman also took cash from one of her employer’s companies.

According to prosecutors, during her employment, the woman did not report any of the accumulated funds as tax income.

Prosecutors say that in addition to stealing from her employer, the woman approached a co-worker about a “short-term loan to obtain a mortgage to purchase a home.”

Unbeknownst to the co-worker, the woman used his information and signature on an endorsement letter sent to the mortgage company to demonstrate her “creditworthiness.”

According to the office, three years after the woman was employed, an investigation was initiated when the employer’s accountant noticed “discrepancies in bank deposits.”

The prosecutor’s office said the woman was released in May 2019.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office issued an arrest warrant for the woman in October 2020 “after an extensive investigation,” prosecutors said.

In May 2023, the woman pleaded guilty to seven counts of grand larceny, one count of identity theft and one count of filing a false or fraudulent tax return, prosecutors said.

“She admitted she stole over $500,000,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors determined that the woman owed $750,000 in damages.

Since pleading guilty in May 2023, prosecutors said the woman has repaid $300,000 to her employer.

According to prosecutors, at her sentencing hearing, the woman was ordered to pay her employer an additional $662,654, as well as “$221,530 in restitution, interest and penalties to the California Franchise Tax Board.”

Ventura County is approximately 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles.