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SEBASTOPOL — Police have arrested a 59-year-old Sebastopol woman who is accused of stealing more than $250,000 from her former employer.
Frances Farias is a former payroll clerk at Windsor’s Oakmont Senior Living, from whom she is alleged to have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars via “fictitious employee accounts” over a period of three years.
Ten such accounts were created and consisted of “contractor employees” who had been commissioned by the company, as well as completely fictitious employees.
All of these routed back to four different bank accounts which, as it turned out, all belonged to Farias.
Farias left the company in May of 2016. Her successor noticed the irregularities in the accounting work, which sparked the initial investigation into Oakmont’s accounts.
Detectives secured a $2,000,000 warrant for Farias’ arrest and she was taken into custody during the execution of a search warrant on her home on July 25th, where additional evidence of her crimes was uncovered.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office notes in a press release that Farias is also under investigation for “several other fraudulent schemes,” which may bring further criminal charges.
She is currently housed at the Sonoma County Jail on “seven felony charges including grand theft and identity theft.” Her bail rests at $100,000.
