Santa Paula Police Department – Incident Press Release
A former employee of Athens Environmental Services in Santa Paula was arrested for embezzling
$57,000 from her employer.
In April 2019, Athens Environmental Services noticed suspicious activity related to their payments division. The company initiated a forensic audit of various accounting tasks related to their bank accounts and financial statements. The audit revealed $57,000 in cash had been stolen from the company over the span of several months.
A subsequent investigation by Santa Paula Police detectives revealed Rose Castaneda (56) of Santa Paula, had stolen the money from both her employer and ultimately clients of Athens Environmental Services after cash payments were made for monthly services. As a result of the thefts, many clients were double-billed and went into the business to complain about their billing practices. When confronted with the inconsistencies, Castenda walked-off the job and quit without giving notice.
Castaneda was arrested without incident and booked for 503 P.C. – Embezzlement at the Santa Paula Police Department where she is being held on $10,000 bail.
The investigation is on-going.