By Khalida Sarwari
Santa Clara County sheriff’s detectives are investigating accusations of embezzlement against a former Saratoga Chamber of Commerce employee.
Chamber leaders claim an employee of nearly three years stole to the tune of approximately $11,000 from the Chamber while she was employed there between August and September of this year.
The employee, identified by Chamber President Pat Martell as an office manager, resigned on Oct. 21, citing an ongoing illness. The office manager position is the Chamber’s sole paid position, Martell said, but pointed out, “We’re not here to judge anyone or to determine guilt or innocence.”
Martell said the discrepancy was discovered in early October by the Chamber’s bookkeeper during a routine check of the organization’s accounts and subsequently reported to deputies at the sheriff’s office. The missing funds are in the form of uncashed checks and cash.
According to Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup, deputies were called to the Chamber on Oct. 18 in response to a report of an embezzlement discovery. The suspect has been identified but hasn’t yet been arrested, he said.
“The person is not a threat to public safety, so we’re not in a huge rush to bring them into custody until we have all of our evidence all lined up,” Stenderup said. “We just want to make sure we’re very complete and thorough with these kinds of cases because they tend to be very in-depth. These kind of crimes can be very difficult because a lot of the evidence is paper trail.”
He said that detectives are actively investigating the case and hoping to have a resolution by mid-November. Once they complete their investigation, they’ll submit their findings to the district attorney’s office and follow up with an arrest.
Fortunately, the organization is insured and expects the loss to be recovered, Martell said. According to Tiger Teerlink, the Chamber’s vice president, the loss will not affect the Chamber’s operations or upcoming events. In the meantime the Chamber is investigating what happened to the funds and cooperating with the sheriff’s office investigation, Martell said.
A similar incident occurred at the Chamber several years ago, said Martell. Since the embezzlement discovery, the Chamber office has been resecured.
“There are additional measures that are being put in place to be able to prevent this from happening in the future,” she said. “The belts were tight as it was, but not tight enough that somebody was able to slip through, and it’s going to be unshakeable to make sure this never happens again.”
Martell said the Chamber is seeking to fill its office manager position.
Link: Sheriff’s office investigates embezzlement at Saratoga Chamber of Commerce
