Corrupt Chaity Officer Pleads Guilty

[DAL]

Top official stole from children's center, bought a pool, went shopping

November 4, 2009 | 12:22 pm

The former chief financial officer of Orange County’s Orangewood Children’s Foundation was convicted today of stealing more than $780,000 from the nonprofit for abused children.

Tracy Lynn Salcido, 40, pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court to 206 felony counts of forgery and 20 felony counts of falsifying records. She was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.15 million in restitution and legal and accounting fees stemming from the case.

Prosecutors say that, between 1999 and 2005, Salcido forged 206 checks from Orangewood’s accounts and deposited them in an outside business account. She tried to hide the theft by under-reporting donations to the foundation and overstating expenses.

Salcido used the stolen money for a pool and spa at the Yorba Linda home she shared with her husband, vacations, shopping sprees and several vehicles, including a BMW.

Founded in 1981, Orangewood built and supports the county’s only emergency shelter for neglected and abused children.

-- Mike Anton in Orange County

[El_Federal]

Wow, how spineless.

[FJDave]

My wife and I have donated to Orangewood, as they have been a very good charity (and will be better after she is gone). Good catch.

[willowdared]

Good catch! As a former auditor I'm always happy to see financial shenanigans exposed.

Kinda sad to see Orange County relies on a charity for emergency shelter for abused children though.

[avalon42]

3/4 of a million, and nobody noticed until 6 years later? That's some fancy accounting.

[El_Federal]

3/4 of a million, and nobody noticed until 6 years later? That's some fancy accounting.

Sorry, you're post made me laugh

[DAL]

In general, charities are not well run.

[offmts]

And I suppose her husband knows nothing about it!

[Kieth M.]

And I suppose her husband knows nothing about it!

Wow....now he has a great home, a spa, a BMW and no wife due home for at least six years (with time off for good behavior).

Sure, baby, I'll wait for you!

[willowdared]

3/4 of a million, and nobody noticed until 6 years later? That's some fancy accounting.

Pffft...that's chump change in the corporate world.

We had a recent case here where the bookkeeper embezzled 5 million over as many years from her company...they almost went bankrupt.

[SCV-Sop]

Pffft...that's chump change in the corporate world.

We had a recent case here where the bookkeeper embezzled 5 million over as many years from her company...they almost went bankrupt.

Yep, I found over a million myself. No one is watching the barn, and law enforcement can't do anything to prevent it. It's the victims that have to largely figure it out before the law gets involved.

It's just one of those things I see that:
1) owners or stakeholders don't want to get involved in the details.
2) when offenders are confronted they can deflect a lot of questions by dragging feet and giving confusing information. That's the best part about this kind of crime, at first they are the ones in control of the investigative information. They KNOW when the heat is on.
3) As long as the organization stays afloat the crime can continue easier. Usually only when the organization is at a breaking point are things pushed to a point new eyes start looking at the business model.

It's too easy. Way too easy.........

[SCV-Sop]

And I suppose her husband knows nothing about it!

As far as the law is concerned, that is correct.

[DAL]

As far as the law is concerned, that is correct.

I am not an expert on community property, but I think her husband could be liable to repay what was stolen.

[willowdared]

I am not an expert on community property, but I think her husband could be liable to repay what was stolen.

In the case here, they had to liquidate and surrender all assets/property. They turned over the house (with lots of pricey upgrades), cars, jewelry, lots of designer clothes/shoes.

The chick responsible was also a regular casino visitor, so she told hubby it was winnings. Many "recreational embezzlers" buy stuff for themselves that is easy to hide the real price from spouses. I mean really, how many guys have a clue about how much clothes and jewelry and accessories cost? There have been a few that were hoarders who rent storage spaces to hide their stuff.

We had another case here where the lady was getting toys from Toys for Tots but not distributing them to the foster families they were intended for. She had several storage units and would sell them on E-bay.

@SCV...I think the other thing that happens with smaller businesses is they tend to trust the person handling the money too much. They may have doubts when things start happening but they don't want to believe they are being betrayed.

[DAL]

One of the problems is that it is expensive to monitor finances carefully. If phony transactions are generated, an auditor will find a paper trail to support book entries. In order to determine that a fraud is going on, a person with knowledge of the details of the business has to review the books. And, for a charity, those people are often busy people employed by other businesses.