Camarillo woman sentenced in $750,000 embezzlement case, more

Former employee convicted of embezzlement

A Camarillo woman who admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer was sentenced Monday to four years and four months in state prison.

Neydi Garcia, 41, pleaded guilty in May to seven counts of grand theft from his employer, one count of identity theft and one count of filing taxes. false or fraudulent, all felonies, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. She also admitted special allegations and aggravating factors that could result in harsher sentences, including that the crimes were committed with planning and sophistication.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office arrested Garcia in 2020. She had been hired by Thomas “Tom” Staben in 2016 as an office manager and bookkeeper, sheriff’s officials said at the time, and helped manage business and personal accounts. Staben owned several businesses throughout the county. The victim’s CPA noticed discrepancies in bank deposits handled by Garcia and launched an investigation in 2019. Garcia was fired in May of that year. The sheriff’s fraud unit investigated, leading to the 2020 arrest.

During the three years Garcia worked for Staben, she embezzled about $750,000, prosecutors said in Monday’s news release. The activity included unauthorized activity on a business credit card. She took her family on “lavish” vacations to Europe, Mexico, Nashville and Las Vegas, the prosecutor’s office said. She purchased jewelry, items from high-end retailers including Gucci and Chanel, and paid collection agencies. Her employer’s funds were used to pay her mortgage and personal credit cards. She stole money from one of the businesses.