A 33-year-old Los Angeles man was arrested Thursday, Feb. 13 after he failed to make any attempt to repay nearly $50,000 he had stolen from his employer, One West Bank.
This story began way back on Sept. 24, 2013 when an investigator from the One West Bank in Santa Monica noticed, via an audit after a branch had been through a relocation process, that $49,000 was missing.
The investigator looked into the matter and identified the person who had taken the cash.
This employee had suddenly quit the bank on the first day of opening at the new location.
The investigator had questioned the suspect who had admitted to stealing the money over a three to four day period spending it on clothes, food, credit card debt, and gambling.
The alleged confessed embezzler promised to pay the money back over time.
After some considerable period of time had elapsed and the alleged embezzler had made zero attempt to make restitution, the investigator reported the incident to the Santa Monica Police Department, filing embezzlement charges on behalf of the bank, and requested that an arrest be made.
Detectives from Santa Monica conducted a follow-up investigation and on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 9:35 am, armed with a warrant signed by a judge, they went to the alleged embezzler’s residence in Los Angeles and arrested him.
This man was charged with embezzlement and bail was set at $20,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
