Yessica Arrua, Florida receptionist pockets over $200k in Palm Beach Equine Clinic payroll mishap after being paid as a veterinarian, 7 times her salary and never going to her employer to tell them of the mistake.
She thought it was a ‘gift from God….’ A Florida receptionist faces theft charges after she was found to be clandestinely pocketing $400K a year salary when in fact her actual salary was only $60,000.
Yessica Arrua, 29, of Wellington, FL, was arrested on June 27 after allegedly pocketing the excess funds over the course of ten months as her horse clinic employer unwittingly paid the erroneous sums to her bank account in a mix up with a veterinarian’s annual salary.
Florida receptionist was getting paid seven times her salary but kept quiet
In all, Arrua, collected pay checks totaling approximately $416,291.05, which included a significant bonus of $245,322.91 intended for a veterinarian, WPEC reported.
It wasn’t until early 2023 when the Palm Beach Equine Clinic’s (PBEC) Chief Financial Officer caught the mistake and contacted the company’s payroll provider, Harbor America, to advise that it had inputted someone else’s information into Arrua’s account.
Arrua, who is originally from Argentina, was getting paid like a veterinarian – roughly seven times her salary – from February 2022 to January 2023, according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office (PBSO).
While the employee allegedly admitted to knowing she was getting overpaid, Arrua had decided against reporting the discrepancy to the clinic.
She allegedly had used the extra money at stores including Coach, Michael Kors, furniture shops and restaurants. Thousands of dollars were also sent through Zelle to ‘Mama Dukes’, according to the dailymail.
Maybe it was a bonus saving the company money on paper clips?
The police report revealed $80,000 of the money was used to purchase a food truck for a friend of Arrua’s mother, and Arrua also admitted to sending money to people in Argentina to build a house.
The police report said that Arrua believed the extra funds in her account was a ‘bonus’ for her work as a receptionist.
She said she ‘heard rumors before that the previous receptionist had received one for saving the practice money on supplies’.
Arrua had worked at the practice for nine years, and she had known the company president – who was the person to eventually call the police – since she was nine years old.
The police report stated that the $450,000-a-year veterinarian – who was supposed to receive those checks – ‘did not monitor her checking account and deposits for the past year’, therefore she didn’t notice she hadn’t received her salary payments until a few of her credit cards declined.
It wasn’t until after Arrua collecting eight to 10 months of the fraudulent direct deposit payments, the veterinarian confronted her.
Arrua ‘broke down crying and admitted the criminal action’, according to the police report.
In response to being called out, Arrua wrote out a cashier’s check for $200,000 of the estimated $414,000 she pocketed.
The receptionist allegedly claimed she could not return the rest of the money because her mother had already sent $100,000 of it to family in Argentina. They thought it was a ‘gift from God’, according to the police report.
When asked by police why she hadn’t attempted to return the remaining money or work out a payment plan she said she did not know how to approach the company president as he was ‘so angry’.
The police report also stated that President Swerdlin wanted Harbor America and Arrua to be held accountable.
The police report states the investigating officer had identified ‘several mistakes attributed to the third-party company, Harbor America’ but had struggled to make contact with representatives from the firm for clarification.
When police eventually did make contact, they discovered that the individuals with firsthand knowledge of the error were no longer employed by the firm.
Arrua has since been charged with grand theft of $100,000 or more and money laundering of $100,000 or more.
Arrua remains in custody at Palm Beach’s Main Detention Center.
