41-Year-Old Female Embezzled $750K From Boss, Took Luxury Vacations, Paid Cellphone Bills – Los Angeles California reporting
A 41-year-old Ventura County woman convicted of embezzling more than $750,000 from her employer and using it for lavish vacations, designer handbags and even her cellphone bill was sentenced to four years and four months in state prison, officials announced this week.
Prosecutors say Camarillo resident Neydi Garcia, who also used the aliases Neydi Villegas and Neydi Alargunsoro, was hired in 2016 as a bookkeeper and office manager for multiple businesses owned by the victim.
Over the three years Garcia managed the victim’s personal and business accounts, she stole approximately $750,000, which included unauthorized purchases on her employer’s business credit card, a news release from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office stated.
“Garcia took her family on lavish vacations to Europe, Mexico, Nashville, and Las Vegas. She paid personal cell phone bills, bought jewelry, paid collection agencies, and purchased from high-end retailers; Gucci, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton,” the release noted. “She made unauthorized Automated Clearing House transactions to pay her mortgage and personal credit card bills. Garcia also stole cash from a business owned by the victim.”
Garcia also used a co-worker’s personal information and signature to make “false representations” about her creditworthiness to qualify for a home mortgage, prosecutors said.
Garcia has paid back $300,000 of the $750,000 in restitution she was ordered to pay.
In addition to her four-year prison sentence, officials ordered the 41-year-old to pay an additional $662,654 to her former employer and $221,530 in restitution, interest and penalties to the California Franchise Tax Board.