Employees Sentenced After Embezzling Nearly $600k From Big Oak Flat Business
Sonora, CA — A mother and daughter from Groveland were sentenced to five years in state prison for embezzling nearly $600,000 from their employer.
68-year-old Shirley Eckhart and 45-year-old Heather Wilson were both employed by Moore Brothers Scavenger Company, a family business that has been in operation for over 50 years in Tuolumne County. The two women, who are not part of the Moore family, handled billing and paid company expenses. Wilson also assisted with payroll.
The mother-daughter duo crafted a wage scheme where they would periodically give themselves unauthorized wage increases, and in 2020 constructed a sophisticated fraudulent check scheme. This went on until 2023 when one of the Moore family members became suspicious that Eckhart and Wilson were living beyond their means and launched an internal investigation.
The Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office notes that they both took advantage of a time when the Moore family’s attention was divided after one of the owners became ill with cancer and later passed away from his illness.
The District Attorney’s Office adds that when law enforcement officials arrested Eckhart for these crimes, she claimed that the Moore family was in the wrong, had stolen their identities from their personnel records, and set them up. After being confronted with the evidence that the money went into both her and her daughters personal bank accounts, she eventually admitted what they had done with the fraudulent check scheme but claimed she had no idea that they had taken that much money.
In California, Grand Theft alone is not a prison punishable offense. However, prison was an option in this case because there were two related felonies occurring, with the amount stolen being over $500,000.
This week, Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Robert Westbrook, handling these cases on assignment, sentenced both of the women to five years in prison. The action comes after separate juries found them guilty of multiple offenses. The DA’s Office notes that the Moore family is still working to pay off and get out from under the debt the business incurred because of the two women’s illegal actions. They were also ordered to pay restitution of $593,643 to the business, with interest added, starting from the date of sentencing.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Samantha Arnerich.
