A Central Florida woman has been arrested for stealing over $700,000 from her Palm Harbor employer.
Detectives assigned to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Economic Crimes Unit arrested a Clearwater woman for Scheme to Defraud, after writing company checks to herself and cashing them.
According to detectives, an investigation began in December of 2022 after a complaint was received from the president of Inspecs USA, an eyewear manufacturing company in Palm Harbor. The president advised that their Managerial Accountant, 41-year-old Monika Hladik, had been writing company checks to herself and forging his signature.
Detectives say Hladik had been employed with Inspecs USA for twelve years and was responsible for writing company checks and bringing them to the president for his signature. They also advised Hladik was never authorized to sign checks or write any to herself.
Throughout the course of the investigation, detectives learned Hladik wrote 232 checks to herself between 2016 and 2022 and deposited them into her Wells Fargo bank account.
The checks were written for various amounts and totaled approximately $710,531.00. Detectives say Hladik also manipulated QuickBooks accounting entries to cover up the ongoing theft for several years.
On March 14th, Hladik was arrested and charged with one count of Scheme to Defraud.
Apparently stealing for six years without oversight, that is irresponsible to say the least.
It was probably accidental. Give her a second chance.
So much for internal controls. No way this should have gone on that long undetected. Another case of a company owner having no clue what is going on with his company.
So it took 6 years to find out she was writing company checks to herself! WTH! ?