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Alleged embezzler quickly narrows field for top risk manager

Posted On: Mar. 7, 2019 11:52 AM CST

alleged embezzler

As a risk management specialist in a cash-strapped California school district’s accounting department, Danya Margarita Williams should have known that depositing thousands of dollars of district funds into her personal bank account wasn’t going to get her risk manager of the year.

Instead, as ABC 10 News San Diego reports, the former Sweetwater Union High School District worker was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing more than $50,000 in money orders between June 2016 and November 2017 when she was a district employee.

District officials discovered the alleged embezzlement in late 2017 and reported it to police who investigated, according to a statement from the Chula Vista Police department.

Ms. Williams, who worked at the district from October 2001 to February 2018, was responsible for processing money orders received for fingerprint background investigations as part of the district’s employment screening, according to police.

Each job applicant pays anything from $52 to $75 for the cost of the background check using money orders. Instead of processing the money in line with district requirements, Ms. Williams is alleged to have deposited the amounts into her personal bank account, according to the report.

District records from 2017 show Ms. Williams’ job title as risk management specialist in the district’s accounting department, while public records indicate she was making a salary including benefits of $86,877, a 12% raise from her salary the prior year.

Ms. Williams left her job in February 2018 and had been working in the district’s human resources department up until her departure, according to a district spokesman.

She was booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility on March 5, according to police. Her bail was set at $50,000 and she bailed out the same day, according to the District Attorney.

Ms. Williams will be arraigned March 12, the day after the district is due to present a plan to avert a budget crisis.