Thursday, March 20, 2008

What? I earned it didn't I?


Gee, nice work if you can get it. The salary is great and the perks are superb. Oops! One little problem it was all stolen.



Bookkeeper charged in embezzlement
San Antonio Express-News

A bookkeeper lived like a high roller in $500 shoes, a 2007 Mercedes and front-row seats to Cowboys games by embezzling $2.5 million from her employer, authorities said Wednesday.
Bexar County Assistant District Attorney Woody Halstead said Yamikani Harper siphoned $2.5 million from the accounts of Valley Building Specialties by setting up a shell company over the past 31/2 years.

Harper, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with misapplication of fiduciary property. The San Antonian is in the Bexar County Jail on $1 million bond.

Harper cashed many checks that she wrote to the shell company over nearly four years, Halstead said.

"The owners of this company really trusted her, so she had unlimited access to accounts," Halstead said. "Because the business was doing so well financially, it still showed profits on the books in spite of her taking money off the top."

He said Harper officially earned between $30,000 and $40,000 annually as a bookkeeper. The district attorney's office and the Texas Rangers began investigating in October, after co-workers noticed irregularities in accounts.

Investigators believe Harper used the funds to purchase the Mercedes, two Nissans, many designer shoes priced at $500 or more per pair and front-row seats to Spurs and Cowboys games.