WEST MELBOURNE, Fla. — A 46-year-old Brevard County bookkeeper who embezzled about $1.3 million from a manufacturing company over seven years was arrested Thursday morning, the West Melbourne Police Department said.
A Hills Inc. employee in June discovered numerous questionable financial transactions while Rodolfo Olivas was vacationing in Tampa, West Melbourne police Capt. Richard Cordeau said.
The employee reported the discovery to police, triggering a 10-month-long investigation, Cordeau said.
"As part of that investigation, detectives issued numerous subpoenas to banks and credit card companies," Cordeau said. "The prolonged investigation revealed Olivas had been stealing from the company dating back to 2010."
Investigators said Olivas used business checks, multiple credit cards and numerous bank accounts to steal the money. He was in charge of making purchases for the entire company, making it easier for him to hide the theft, they said.
"When he went on vacation in 2017, another employee did Olivas' work and discovered credit card and checking accounts that nobody else knew about," Cordeau said.
A drug and alcohol addiction might have fueled Olivas' theft, West Melbourne police Detective Donovan Brickhouse said during a Friday morning news conference.
"The money was used for everything from cruises, Disney trips, Buccaneers season passes, food and a lot of alcohol a lot of personal stuff -- no significant stuff, like houses, boats or cars or anything like that," Brickhouse said.
Olivas was booked into the Brevard County Jail on fraud and theft charges. He's being held in lieu of a $721,000 bail.
Hills Inc. issued the following statement Thursday:
"In 2017, Hills discovered that it was a victim of employee theft. At the time of discovery, Hills immediately terminated employment of this individual without incident, and after a brief internal investigation to confirm the gravity of the matter, Hills contacted the West Melbourne Police Department. Hills was shocked and saddened by the nature and volume of this crime. Hills successfully managed to ensure that this crime had absolutely no effect on our services and payments to our customers, business partners and suppliers. However, Hills has always distributed a significant portion of its annual profits to our employees, and since this crime affected our profits, Hills Employees failed to receive the maximum profit sharing they earned and thus also became victims. We greatly appreciate the highly professional services of the West Melbourne Police Department especially Detective Brickhouse and Detective Campbell as well as the State Attorney's Office for their diligence in pursuing this case and look forward to working with them to close this matter."
Cox Media Group
