In 2022 and 2023, a simple payroll error at a veterinarian clinic turned into a jaw-dropping scandal. A receptionist earning $23 an hour suddenly found herself receiving massive deposits totaling $416,000. That included regular monthly payments and an eye-popping $245,000 bonus meant for someone else. She never reported the mistake. Instead, investigators say over $200,000 was wired to Argentina to buy a house. Officers sat down with the company's management pressing them for details on how such a massive payroll mistake could go unnoticed. >> And I told her she was going to get in trouble and she needed to pay it back. >> Okay. >> So >> And in the process of paying back so there was the 200 You're still short what? >> Right. >> Um Did you ever enter into an agreement with her that said if you pay us back we won't press charges or Okay. Okay. And obviously I mean you're still looking at 200 240 >> Yeah I mean it's 2025 and this was 2023. And we haven't gotten it. So >> Um >> And then I think we won't get it because her mother sent most of it to Argentina. All that there was 200,000 that went to Argentina. >> Okay. Understood. Um and that I think her mother >> If anybody should be charged it's her mother. >> Mhm. >> And because her mother was in collusion she know them knew the money was stolen and wasn't her she moved it all off of offshore down to Argentina. >> It was a mistake that the money ended up in her account or >> Yes. It was an error on the PEO account. >> Okay. And how does that happen? >> Happen. >> That's a good question. What happened is is that um when you fill out a form >> Mhm. >> And it couldn't happen again because I raised hell with the PEO. >> Mhm. >> When you fill out the form, you have a ACH is it ACH? Is it correct deposit? >> Direct deposit. >> Direct deposit. >> deposit goes directly from the PEO into an account. >> Mhm. >> She filled out the form correctly, but first she She being um Jessica. >> Okay. >> Okay. Now and Arua >> R U A. >> Okay, so they come on the payroll one right below the other. >> Okay. >> So, when they were trying to see where to send that money after we filled it out, they went to their schedule and filled in the PEO went to their schedule and filled in for Jessica Arua. >> Okay, cuz I could see how that's common. >> Yeah, but >> But here's the thing. They did not It was a type. They did not cross-check to make sure that that account belonged to Sarah >> Okay. >> They didn't do that. >> And this has been going This was going on for about 10 months. >> Yes, and now she was being paid twice. Once for her salary >> Okay. >> which was 60 >> How much was it? Yeah, $20 an hour. >> Right. And again for Dr. or she collect you know, she's on production collection. And um for Dr. or salary which was 350 thousand that year. >> Okay. >> And then all that money went right into Arua's account. >> Okay. And I noticed while going through this case file um cuz I have a bunch of records already. There was about a $200,000 deposit into Ms. Rue's account. >> That was in September. >> It was towards the end of it. >> That was Sarah's commission check. >> Okay. >> Police interviewed the employee who was supposed to receive the money. >> I'm investigating the allegation of the internal essentially internal theft of approximately $460,000. From what I learned is that that money was money that was supposed to go into your account for your paychecks. >> Yep. >> Can you tell me what occurred? >> Um >> from your perspective and what happened. >> So, I have a business account that sits at um where my salary is direct deposited in and then there is um a salary that has been paid for me to my personal account. I work out generally my personal account uh for all my finances, my mortgage, everything else. Um so my business account just kind of sits. Um and um there had to be a change to it. I go in there periodically. Uh I went in there in December of 2020 two. Two. Sorry. Uh 2022. >> So, they already swore in on the last one. It's okay if they have to chime in and do something. I know they're not allowed to. >> 20 yes. 2022 um to change some things and I just happened to note um that there were some funds missing. Um my production check generally goes in around October. Um and that hadn't gone in and >> What's a production check? >> Um I work on production. I'm not salaried. So, I make a percentage of what I earn for the clinic. >> Okay. If you can recall from 2022, >> Mhm. >> what was that bi-weekly? >> Uh generally runs somewhere between 8 to 10,000 dollars. >> Bi-weekly? >> Yep. Bi-weekly. >> Bi-weekly? >> Bi-weekly, twice a month. >> Bi-weekly or twice a month? >> Bi-weekly. >> Bi-weekly. Bi-weekly. Okay. So, 26 paychecks. And then there's that production check. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So, we would be essentially 27 paychecks you get from >> Yeah. So, that's when I went back and noted that the last one I had received had been in February, I believe or January 2022. >> And what happened after you noticed that? >> Uh I alerted the office staff here. >> Okay. How soon after were you reimbursed? >> Um she reimbursed me, sorry, Jessica, >> Okay. >> um paid the clinic half of the amount that she had pretty quickly, like four or five weeks after, and then um I want to say two and a half to three months by May, the Pet Vet had reimbursed me the remainder. >> Two months later, Jessica was taken into custody. >> Okay, you're under arrest. >> For what? >> A bunch of stuff. This is called it. >> The what? >> The big dog in the video a lot of times. We have called you. So, uh >> Yeah, what's going on? >> Do you have anything I can follow you on? Stay here. Do you have a >> What's going on? >> You have a warrant. >> For what? >> For what? Stay right Stay right here. >> Okay. >> Stay right Let me Let me do this first. What? Just give us a second to get this all situated and then we'll handle that. >> You've been working today or not? >> Yeah. >> When did you get off from work? >> Like maybe like 2 hours ago. >> Yeah. >> Audi! >> There you go. That's okay. >> I don't know what they did have a warrant for my arrest. >> Yeah. >> I know. >> Okay. >> Joe money. >> I am. I am home now. >> I'm going to have to find what's the problem with that. >> Who took the dog? >> Do you like some little cookies? >> Okay. So >> What's up? You want to go to New York? >> With the um money. >> So you're watching him hitting me right now? >> No, you didn't want to leave this apartment your daughter for being nice to you. You said no. >> No, I said I didn't say that. I didn't want to like who would not want to be in front of my daughter? >> You said no. So we're going to get him back down here to take the jewelry. >> Officers interviewed the female suspect about the missing money. 2022 to 2023 we received a complaint about the theft of approximately $400,000. That's why we're here. All right, so if you could kind of just walk me through what happened because we know because we're in this situation now that I did see the bank statements. I know how much was coming in for your salary and I know how much additional I know how much was in your account prior to your employment as well. Or the second time around when this occurred. You explain to me which start. >> So, when I went back to work with Omni Healthcare Clinic, um I was called because one of the receptionist, which was also kind of the manager there, of the front desk of Pioneer Medical, um fired or she decided to quit. And it was known by everybody that she would get bonuses every month um depending on how much money she would spend on the coffee and everything I was being paid. Um so when I started working there, I was giving her position. Um so when I got my first paycheck, it was my paycheck and then I got like another thing with like more money and I was like, "Okay, this is probably from that." And I just I assumed that it was because I mean it was because I didn't spend that much money that month. It was like retroactive for doing so nothing was ever said. Uh it went on for like a year and then after the year, they came to me telling me that they had to like money into my account. That was my way of finding out. >> Okay. And do you recall how much extra that was? >> I guess I was getting like $5,000 extra a month. >> And did that ever bring any Could you just explain your thought process when you saw that down? >> When I saw that, I was like, "Okay, it was about the rumors of this other lady getting all these bonuses." >> Mhm. >> Um I was like, "Okay, you know, like if they give it to me too, I mean I'm doing basically the same job that she was doing." >> Mhm. >> And nothing they never came up to me. They never said anything so I just kind of let it go. And then when they came to me telling me that um that that money was meant for a different account. Um that's when I told them that I I didn't know. So I mean I tried my hardest to give them the money back but a lot of it has a simple party came out to build house and you know but cuz I I never thought it was like it was somebody else's money. I just thought it was bonuses that they were giving me. And it went on for a year and in a year they never sent anything. >> Mhm. All right. And was there ever a significant one that came through? >> Yeah, 6000. >> Okay. >> How much was that? Like 200000 dollars? But I thought it was like retroactive like they build it and did have like end of like opposite end of the year thing, you know, and maybe I I never thought it was like it was they were giving me someone else's money into my account. Cuz if I would have known I would have most definitely returned it. >> Mhm. And did anyone ever did you ever approach anyone about it? >> No. >> You never told anyone? >> No. >> In work at home? >> I mean I I told my mom about like, "Oh look like you know like they're giving me these bonuses like you know it's really good." I mean I'm trying to put my daughter in daycare. I have little girl. But it wasn't like I never meant for like I never thought it was somebody else's money. I also I just thought it was like you know like a bonus. >> Mhm. There were 17 checks until that very large $245,000 check that ended up in your account. And then following that there was another 1 2 3 4 5 6 that ended up all for about 6800 or more. Uh maybe one of them was a little less. No. The minimum was 6818. So some of the transactions I noticed were transfers into various accounts. Um October 22 October 2022 you had transferred $180,000 to a savings account. >> Yes, because um So when I started getting this money I I wanted to save money because I wanted to buy a house. >> Mhm. >> Um But then like some of the back or something. >> Mhm. Okay. Um which there was a transfer back on January 5th, 2023 for $197,000. >> So that money so when this whole ordeal was started after that that I was approached by the CFO of the company by Shelly Montes. She asked me to transfer that money back into my main account. She asked me for my passwords to my bank account. >> Mhm. >> Um she changed the password to my banking. Um and she told me that I needed to go to the bank to the bank Chase and to get a cashier's check for all the money that I had in the bank account. >> Okay. And what was your reaction to that then? >> I I did what they asked me to do. I mean I Like, once I I found out that it wasn't um the money that they were going to they were giving me out, I tried, you know, to um and I told her to um pay back. Like, I I was really sorry about it. I told her like, "Look, I'll pay back." Like, it's not like now that I know that it's not my money, like, I will pay you back. And Dr. Scott told me he got really really hostile with me. He said threatening me. And that's intimidating by the way. >> Okay. And at this point when you're saying you realized it was a mistake, would you have ever thought about calling the police to kind of just mediate on scene with him getting hostile, you willing to turn it over? >> I was I was really afraid. At that time my daughter was like 2 years old. When he called me at the office, he's like, "I'm giving you a kiss that like tight where is it? Jail?" Did your pockets feel through parole? And that was really good for me. So, he told me give all my baby say all my baby information to her to and that they would take like I had to give them the money. So, I went to the bank. I got all the money out. I gave all the cashier's check to her and then she deposited it to whichever doctor it was that money was meant for. >> Okay. >> She was charged with grand theft and money laundering over $100,000. Though she returned nearly $200,000, the rest was gone.