Orange City woman apprehended in North Carolina
Iredell County (NC) Sheriff's Office mug shot / The long arm of the law caufght up with Steffani Lariscy, 37, of Orange City, arrested in North Carolina after Volusia County Sheriff's deputies accused her in a warrant affidavit with stealing nearly $170,000 from her Ormond Beach employer and using some of the loot for breast implants.
ORMOND BEACH -- A former accountant who bragged of spending $7,000 of the thousands of dollars she alledgedly pilfered from her employer while working as an accountant, has been arrested on theft charges after being taken into custody in North Carolina, a Volusia County Sheriff's official said.
It started with a $1,000 discrepancy in the company’s financial records. But by the time the Sheriff’s Office had completed its investigation, 37-year-old Steffani Lariscy of Orange City, the ex-accountant for a camper sales business in Ormond Beach, stood accused of stealing nearly $170,000 from her employer over a three-year period.
And that's not the the most titilating part of the story: She allegedly boasted of using some of the cash for a boob job.
"During the investigation, an anonymous tipster told Sheriff’s investigators that Lariscy had a lot of unexplained cash at her house and had been bragging about it," Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson told Headline Surfer. "The tipster also said that Lariscy had bought some new furniture and also had spent $7,000 on breast implants."
And that's not the the most titilating part of the story: She allegedly boasted of using some of the cash for a boob job: "During the investigation, an anonymous tipster told Sheriff’s investigators that Lariscy had a lot of unexplained cash at her house and had been bragging about it," Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson told Headline Surfer. "The tipster also said that Lariscy had bought some new furniture and also had spent $7,000 on breast implants."
The investigation culminated in her arrest Thursday after a warrant was obtained by Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies and were assisted in her apprehension by deputies in Iredell County, N.C.
Lariscy's arrest came about a year after the investigation was launched. The owner of Robbins Camper Sales initiated the complaint against her back in March 2012, after he had discovered an irregularity in his financial records connected to the sale of a camper.
"The $11,000 sale was made on Feb. 22, 2012, and the customer paid in cash," Davidson explained. "Lariscy was supposed to deposit the money the next day into the business’ bank account.
But while reviewing the company’s business records, the owner discovered an entry indicating a $10,000 deposit. When he checked with the bank in an effort to reconcile the discrepancy, the owner discovered that the deposit was never made."
The owner confronted his accountant about the missing money.
"At first, Lariscy said she didn’t know anything about it, but promised to look into the matter," Davidson told Headline Surfer. "A short while later, when the owner went to retrieve a hand-written deposit slip from his deposit registry to show it to Lariscy, it had been torn out of the book. The owner then confronted Lariscy a second time, and this time she admitted to taking the missing money."
Davidson said the owner recalled she told him she she needed the money to help with her divorce and that she was planning to pay it back. But when the owner told her that he was planning to report the incident to law enforcement, Lariscy took off, the Sheriff's spokeman said.
Davidson said the owner recalled she told him she she needed the money to help with her divorce and that she was planning to pay it back. But when the owner told her that he was planning to report the incident to law enforcement, Lariscy took off, the Sheriff's spokeman said.
The initial responding deputy called Lariscy on the phone, but she denied knowing anything about the missing money. So the case was turned over to Sheriff’s investigator Lance Lamee for follow-up, Davidson said.
Meanwhile, in light of the initial discrepancy, the owner decided to audit his financial records by reviewing prior sales and business transactions to compare them with bank deposit slips.
After the review, he reported to the Sheriff’s Office that significantly more money was missing than first thought.
Led by Lamee, Sheriff’s investigators executing a court order seized bank records and other financial documents from Lariscy’s Orange City home. The seized records revealed a complex network of about a dozen financial institutions where Lariscy had accounts, Davidson said.
Investigator Lamee subpoenaed the financial records for all of the banks for a nearly three-year period between April 2009-February 2012. The records were then analyzed by two accountants and a fraud examiner.
"Last month, the audit team revealed that the total amount of money that they were able to document as being misappropriated from the business totaled $169,822.63," Davidson said.
Based on the findings, Lamee obtained an arrest warrant last week from Circuit Judge Frank Marriott charging Lariscy with grand theft. The Sheriff’s Office’s warrants division and intelligence unit then reached out to North Carolina authorities to ask for their help in locating Lariscy. The efforts led to Lariscy’s arrest on Thursday. Her bond has been set at $100,000.
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