Thursday, Jan. 08, 2009

Merced County Sheriff's Department officer's wife accused of embezzling $832,000

The wife of a high-ranking Merced County Sheriff's Department official was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of embezzling $832,000 from a Merced nut processing plant.

The owner of the business, however, said the final amount could be higher.

Kimberly Sziraki, 44, was taken into custody by Merced County District Attorney's Office investigators, after a nine-month investigation into accusations that she embezzled the funds from Central Valley Processing Acquisition Corp., 4315 East Childs Ave., according to Pat Lunney, chief investigator for the D.A.'s office.

Sziraki, who worked at the business in sales and as a manager, is the wife of Merced County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Steve Sziraki, who leads the Sheriff's Tactical and Reconnaissance (STAR) team.

She was arrested around 12:30 p.m. at the D.A.'s 626 W. 18th St. office, after being asked to come in for questioning, Lunney said.

According to Lunney, the crimes happened mostly during 2006 and 2007. He said Sziraki had access to business checking accounts, credit cards and invoices with the company's financial information.

"She was in a position of responsibility that had oversight over all those functions," Lunney said.

Although Lunney wouldn't elaborate on some specific aspects of the investigation, he said Sziraki, in some cases, had arranged for herself to be the recipient of funds that were supposed to be paid directly to Central Valley Processing.

In others, she used company credit cards to buy items.

"We had been collecting information on the fiscal situation of the company, of her accounts, and there was a number of search warrants served on banking institutions," Lunney said.

Lunney said there has also been "extensive analysis" by a certified public accountant into Sziraki's alleged activities, which "took an extraordinary amount of time to analyze."

As of now, Sziraki is the sole suspect in the case. It's unknown whether Sgt. Steve Sziraki knew about his wife's alleged activities, although Lunney said he isn't considered a suspect and hasn't been arrested.

"We, of course, will be talking to him, but at this time we have no information that he is involved," Lunney said.

Sziraki has admitted "some of the activities" that led to the charges, Lunney said, adding that she "has been cooperating."

Ken Spagnola, co-owner of Central Valley Processing, said although Sziraki has been arrested for embezzling $832,000, he believes she may have stolen more than $900,000.

The alleged embezzlement began in 2006, Spagnola said, after Sziraki took over for a plant manager who had fallen ill to cancer. Spagnola said that after she took over the manager's job, he noticed some charges that Sziraki could not account for.

In January last year, Spagnola said he was contacted by a broker who hadn't been paid.

"That's when the Pandora's box opened up," Spagnola said.

He hired a bookkeeper, who allegedly spotted a wire transfer into a personal account for Sziraki.

Spagnola said he also noticed that Sziraki hadn't been paying the company's payroll taxes. In April 2008, he contacted the Merced County District Attorney's Office about the missing funds.

"At this time, we haven't recovered any of the funds, although we're analyzing where they could be located and seized," Lunney said.

Tom MacKenzie, sheriff's spokesman, declined to comment about the case on Wednesday, saying the Merced County District Attorney's Office is handling it. Sziraki remains in custody in lieu of $832,000 bail -- the same amount that she is accused of embezzling.

MacKenzie wouldn't disclose where Sziraki is being held, citing security reasons.

In the meantime, Spagnola and his wife, Judy, said their business has been substantially damaged by Sziraki's alleged actions.

"We're up to our eyeballs in debt." Judy Spagnola said.

The worst part, Ken Spagnola said, is that it happened with someone they trusted.

"It was somebody that we really thought a lot of," he said. "And she turned around and did that."