A 45-year-old woman with an extensive criminal history is in custody after embezzling more than $500,000 from a Ventura County business where she worked as an office manager and bookkeeper, officials announced.
In a news release, prosecutors with the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said the theft occurred between 2020 and 2021 at a medical practice in Thousand Oaks.
According to prosecutors, Ida Veronica Hernandez used her position to transfer large amounts of the practice’s money into bank accounts she or her family controlled. Authorities said she also created fictitious employees and used multiple aliases in an effort to conceal the illegal transactions.
Investigators further determined Hernandez committed identity theft against coworkers at the medical practice and “attempted to deflect attention from herself by falsely implicating a coworker in her financial crimes,” the release stated.
Prosecutors said Hernandez, 45, is also wanted for similar financial crimes in Orange County and Texas. Once financial discrepancies began to surface, she abruptly quit her job and fled to Orange County, where she allegedly carried out similar schemes, prompting a warrant for her arrest.
“She is also accused of additional financial crimes in Plano, Texas,” prosecutors said. “Hernandez subsequently fled Texas and was tracked by investigators as she traveled across the country.”
In total, authorities said Hernandez stole approximately $550,000 from the Thousand Oaks medical practice.
On Jan. 21, she pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of grand theft and one felony count of filing a false or forged document in connection with what prosecutors described as an “extensive embezzlement scheme.”
She also admitted to a special allegation that the theft exceeded $100,000.
Hernandez remains in custody on a $600,000 bond and is scheduled to be sentenced in late February in Ventura County Superior Court.