Brandon Twp.- A former employee of Simms Chevrolet is suspected of embezzling approximately $245,000 from the auto dealership.
Oakland County Sheriff’s Office deputies are seeking a warrant against the woman who will remain unnamed pending an arraignment on a charge of embezzlement more than $100,000.
OCSO Detective Chris Pacholski said police will submit an arrest warrant request for the woman to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office within the next week.
According to police reports, detectives began investigating an embezzlement claim against the woman in August. The suspect had retired from Simms Chevrolet on Feb. 29, 2008 after working as the bookkeeper for dealership owner Lawrence Simms since January 1992. She had also worked for the previous owner of the dealership.
When the suspect retired, the bookkeeper who replaced her found several discrepancies in accounting and brought them to Simms? attention.A certified fraud examiner was brought in and an initial investigation covering the time period from Jan. 1, 2007 to Feb. 29, 2008 found the business short $46,735 in cash. Cash sales had been recorded as credit card receivables, which were subsequently written off as an expense. The woman was questioned and couldn’t explain why the cash was not deposited in Simms bank accounts and why it was improperly accounted in the records.
The investigation was expanded to include all of 2006 as well as half of 2005, and a total of $105,203 was determined to be missing. Further investigation concluded that roughly $245,000 was taken by the suspect during her employment.
Simms took the complaint to police in August and when the woman was questioned by police, she denied any wrongdoing.