Deputies arrested a 59-year-old Sebastopol woman on Tuesday July 25th for allegedly stealing over $250,000 from her former employer. The investigation began on January 13, 2017 when management of Windsor’s Oakmont Senior Living called the Sheriff’s Office to report that their former payroll clerk, Frances Farias, was accused of funneling payroll funds to fictitious and secondary employee accounts.
A lengthy forensic audit was then conducted of Oakmont’s accounts. Detectives determined that Farias was in charge of payroll for Oakmont. They found that she set up ten fictitious employee accounts created for the company over the last three years. The payroll accounts comprised of contractor employees who had done work for the company along with completely fictitious employees. These employees’ accounts were all directed at four different online banking institutions. Detectives determined that these online bank accounts were actually owned by Farias. Oakmont had been paying these fictitious employees paychecks over the course of the last three years. The total loss accumulated over the three years is in excess of $256,000.
Farias had separated employment from the company in May, 2016 and a when a new payroll clerk was hired, she noticed accounting irregularities which triggered the initial investigation. At the conclusion of our investigation, Sheriff’s Property Crimes Detectives secured a $2,000,000 warrant for Farias’ arrest. Detectives arrested her on July 25th for the warrant and while serving a search warrant at her home they found evidence of her crimes. She is also being investigated for several other fraudulent schemes as well that may result in further criminal charges.
Farias is currently being held in the Sonoma County Jail on seven felony charges including grand theft and identity theft. After a court hearing yesterday, a judge reduced her bail to $100,000.
Prepared by: Sgt. Spencer Crum
CR 170113-004
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