Former Oakmont Senior Living payroll administrator allegedly embezzled more than $256,000

A former employee of Oakmont Senior Living, the senior housing developer, was arrested last Tuesday by Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of using fake payroll accounts to steal more than $256,000 from the company over the course of three years.

Frances Farias, 59, of Sebastopol is suspected of setting up 10 fake accounts during her time as a payroll administrator for the Windsor-based retirement community business. The accounts included those of real Oakmont contractors that Farias would continue to pay after their work was done, sending the money to herself instead, as well as entirely invented employees, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Crum.

The fake paychecks were sent to four different online banking institutions with accounts owned by Farias, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Sonoma County is no stranger to this kind of case, Crum said, noting that just a few months ago a Santa Rosa woman was arrested for allegedly embezzling thousands of dollars from a nonprofit that organizes a large Cotati-Rohnert Park area graduation celebration.

“Unfortunately, it’s not all that rare and it’s getting more and more common,” Crum said. “We’ve had numerous soccer leagues and things like that where people are embezzling money, and it’s just one of those things that we encourage companies to have some kind of checks and balances on their system so one person isn’t entrusted with the complete finances for an entire company or organization.”

The investigation of Farias began in January when Oakmont Senior Living management contacted law enforcement to report the alleged embezzlement, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

An audit of the company’s employee 401(k) program had revealed “some irregularities in payroll,” after which the company immediately contacted a forensic accountant and the Windsor Police Department, said Honey Lopez, corporate communications director for Oakmont Management Group, in an email. Windsor’s police department is staffed by the Sheriff’s Office.

Oakmont Senior Living “worked diligently” with the Sheriff’s Office and the forensic accountant over the next few months to “uncover all sources of fraud and quantify all that was stolen,” Lopez said.

“It is important to clarify that Mrs. Farias stole from the construction payroll account of the development arm of Oakmont Senior Living and that no funds were stolen from the residents or the employees of any Oakmont Senior community,” Lopez said in the email. “We would like to thank the (Sheriff’s Office) for all their hard work in bringing Mrs. Farias to justice.”

Farias left the company in May 2016, and a new payroll clerk hired afterward noticed “accounting irregularities” that led to the initial investigation, the Sheriff’s statement said. Detectives later found evidence allegedly linking Farias to the stolen funds while serving a search warrant at her home July 25.

Detectives are also investigating Farias for “several other fraudulent schemes” that may result in other charges at a later date, the Sheriff’s Office said.

As of Friday afternoon, Farias remained in custody at the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of seven felonies, including grand theft and identify theft. A judge reduced her bail earlier this week to $100,000.

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com.On Twitter @thejdmorris.