Petaluma woman gets 29-month prison sentence for embezzling funds from former employer Redwood Credit Union

A Petaluma female was sentenced this week to 29 months in jail following she admitted to defrauding two former companies out of nearly $822,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Business in San Francisco introduced Friday.

Stephanie Simontacchi, 48, experienced pleaded guilty to just one rely each and every of bank fraud, misapplication and embezzlement of credit score union resources and tax evasion though she was employed at Redwood Credit history Union and Cavallo Point Lodge.

The 29-thirty day period sentence was handed down by U.S. District Decide William Orrick, who also requested Simontacchi to serve a few yrs of supervised launch to get started right after her jail expression. Orrick ordered Simontacchi to surrender on or just before Aug. 11 to start off her prison expression.

Simontacchi could not be reached Saturday early morning.

Federal officers reported Simontacchi was utilized as a senior accountant and accounting manager at Redwood Credit rating Union amongst April 2016 and April 2019. She was dependable for processing voided cashier’s checks and other accounting-related responsibilities for the credit history union.

Simontacchi admitted she utilized her place to embezzle and misapply around 35 checks, such as voided cashier’s checks returned to the credit score union by its users, U.S. Treasury checks and state governing administration checks intended for the credit history union, officers reported.

“She deposited the checks into her own financial institution and credit score card accounts for personal use and applied the cash to make payments towards a personalized home equity line of credit rating,” the U.S. Attorney’s Business office claimed in a assertion.

Put together, the checks amounted to at minimum $437,162.24, officials said.

Officers said Simontacchi also labored as a bookkeeper and controller at Cavallo Level Lodge near Sausalito from December 2009 through April 2016. Though there, she experienced accessibility to the hotel’s accounting records programs and experienced signatory authority in excess of the lodge’s financial institution accounts.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office environment, Simontacchi admitted to thieving about 81 accounts payable checks issued by the resort, as well as accounts receivable checks meant for the lodge, totaling $384,363.28.

“She deposited the checks into her individual financial institution accounts for her personal personal obtain,” the assertion stated.

Officials reported Simontacchi well prepared and filed untrue tax returns in between 2013 and 2019, for a complete tax decline of a lot more than $100,000.

Simontacchi was indicted June 24, 2021, by a federal grand jury on 7 counts of bank fraud seven counts of misapplication and embezzlement of credit rating union resources and 4 counts of tax evasion. She subsequently pleaded responsible to a person rely of each individual criminal offense and has agreed to fork out at minimum $821,525.52 in restitution.

The court docket has not still scheduled a hearing to make remaining determinations regarding restitution.

You can attain Staff members Author Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or [email protected]. On Twitter @pressreno.