Merced bookkeeper arrested in embezzlement case
A 40-year-old Merced woman was arrested Friday, accused of embezzling nearly $100,000 from her employer, the Police Department said.
Kristina Van Winkle was booked into the Merced County jail on suspicion of embezzlement, burglary, forgery, grand theft and theft by access card, police said in a news release.
Police said Van Winkle forged several checks from Golden Valley Engineering between October 2013 and March of this year, allegedly stealing about $96,980. Officers said the alleged embezzlement appears to have started about a month after Van Winkle was hired at the company.
On March 30, officers from the Merced Police Department met with the partners of Golden Valley Engineering on 19th Street in Merced regarding a report of embezzlement from their company.
They found out that Van Winkle was hired in September 2013 as a bookkeeper for the company. The company said it recently discovered that Van Winkle had been embezzling money from the company by writing checks to herself as well as using company credit cards without permission.
“Van Winkle then went through phases of not showing up for work for long periods of time, so the company had to bring in another bookkeeper to cover for Van Winkle’s absence,” the news release says. “That is when they found a late payment notification from Chevron for the amount of $3,893.29.”
Police believe Van Winkle had been making unauthorized purchases using the company’s Chevron card and was hiding the bill to keep it from being discovered.
Officers also believe Van Winkle had been issuing herself unauthorized checks from the company.
Police said they obtained documents from Merco Credit Union as well as video footage of Van Winkle making deposits of the forged checks on at least 15 different occasions.
Van Winkle posted a $65,000 bail bond and was released a short time later, according to booking records.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Merced Police Department Detectives Division at (209) 385-4702 or the Tip-line at (209) 385-4725. Citizens can text a tip to TIP411 (847411) using “comvip” as the first word in the text message.
This story was originally published May 1, 2015 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Merced bookkeeper arrested in embezzlement case."