Jun
20
SANTA BARBARA, CA – 6/19/2007. A man is in custody on suspicion of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from his employer. Yesterday (6/18/07), Patrick Joseph Roche, age 33, surrendered himself to detectives at the police station. The victim business was Select Remedy, at 3820 State Street. The investigation began in April, when a co-worker noticed irregularities on how the account books were managed. When questioned, Roche told a co-worker that he embezzled $80,000. He was fired that day. The case was investigated by Detective Norma Hansen of the Special Investigations Unit. By means of bank records and other sources, the total amount embezzled jumped to $324,000. Roche was hired in 1999 as the Collections and Credit Manager. This gave him the opportunity to control funds being returned to companies as overpayments. Roche had established a dummy company named ‘California Consulting Group.’ He altered the company books to reflect that this dummy company was due large refunds from overpayments. Over a six year period he funneled 38 checks ranging from $2,200 to $18,800 into his dummy company’s account. As the account holder, he was able to withdraw the money at will.
Detectives continue to investigate whether any funds are recoverable. So far, Detective Hansen determined that Roche spent large sums at: On-line investing (called E-Trade), electronics and technology stores, a private gym membership, utilities and gasoline, and adult entertainment in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Roche was booked for grand theft by embezzlement; bail set at $324,000. The District Attorney filed charges of Grand Theft, with a special allegation called “excessive taking†(defined as any amount over $100,000.) If convicted, this can result in added time to Roche’s sentence.
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