Probation revoked for Palm Desert embezzler who stole $500,000 from employer
A judge today revoked probation for an accountant who embezzled roughly $500,000 from her Palm Desert employer, opening her up to a possible seven-year prison sentence.
Traci L. Kunz, 46, pleaded guilty in September 2019 to one felony count each of grand theft and forgery, with a sentence-enhancing allegation of perpetrating multiple fraudulent transactions, in crimes that occurred over a three-year span beginning in 2013.
Kunz was sentenced to five years probation last August and ordered to repay her previous employer $5,000 per month. As of that time, she had already repaid $250,000.
At a hearing Friday, prosecutors said she was behind on her payments and successfully petitioned Riverside County Superior Court Judge James Hawkins to revoke her probation.
The judge, who also scheduled an April 30 hearing in the case, previously sentenced Kunz to seven years in state prison, but suspended the sentence in lieu of the probation term.
According to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant filed by sheriff's Investigator Thomas Hendry, Kunz embezzled the money over a three-year span, beginning in June 2013, while employed as a bookkeeper for Swanson Interiors on Charles Place.
The defendant had worked at the luxury interior decorating business for more than 20 years when she was fired in 2016, according to court papers.
Owner Kim Swanson detected the fraudulent activity while examining the
books in May of that year. The stolen funds initially appeared to total
just under $230,000, but further inquiries, with the help of investigators, revealed the amount was nearly double that sum, Hendry said.
When Kunz realized her scheme had been uncovered, she attempted to pay back her employer, making good on $192,000, Hendry said.
Kunz tried to fix most of the blame on her former boyfriend, identified only as "T.G." in court papers, whom authorities could never track down, according to an affidavit.
Hendry said Kunz used the company credit card to deposit funds into PayPal and Square accounts belonging to her and T.G. The money would then be routed to her bank account, sometimes by means of checks written by T.G.
"I found that Tracy Kunz prepared purchase orders for Swanson Interiors … for all of the Square and PayPal transactions in an attempt to make the transactions look legitimate,'' Hendry wrote.
According to the affidavit, in a few instances, Kunz diverted customers' payments directly into her personal Wells Fargo bank account. She was able to cover her tracks for a while by partially replenishing the company accounts with money from customers who had contracted with Swanson Interiors for ongoing projects.
