Petaluma Woman Faces Federal Embezzlement, Bank Fraud Charges

NORTH BAY, CA — A federal grand jury has indicted a Petaluma woman on charges of bank fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion in connection with schemes to use her access as an accountant to enrich herself at the expense of two former employers, authorities with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and the IRS said Tuesday.

Stephanie Simontacchi, 48, was arrested Friday and arraigned Tuesday morning in federal court in San Francisco on suspicion of embezzling nearly $385,000 from Cavallo Point Lodge near Sausalito and another $437,000 from Redwood Credit Union.

According to an announcement Tuesday from Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Craig D. Fair, and IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Daniels, Simontacchi is accused of carrying out embezzlement schemes while employed as a bookkeeper and assistant controller with Cavallo Point Lodge from December 2009 through April 2016, and then as a senior accountant and accounting manager for Redwood Credit Union from 2016 until 2019.

While employed at Cavallo Point Lodge, Simontacchi had access to her employer’s accounting records and accounting systems. Simontacchi also had signatory authority over Cavallo Point Lodge’s bank accounts which gave her authority to create and sign checks from the hotel’s bank accounts and to pay the hotel’s legitimate payments and obligations.

The indictment accuses Simontacchi of embezzling funds from Cavallo Point Lodge by stealing accounts receivable checks that had been sent to the hotel from third parties, then depositing those checks into her personal bank accounts.

Further, the indictment alleges Simontacchi of embezzling accounts payable checks that were drawn from Cavallo Point Lodge’s bank accounts and made payable to third-party vendors.

Instead of sending these checks to the intended third parties, Simontacchi is accused of depositing them into her own bank accounts.

Simontacchi is suspected of embezzling at least $384,363.28 from, or owed to, Cavallo Point Lodge and depositing these stolen funds into her own accounts.

While Simontacchi was employed by Redwood Credit Union, her responsibilities included processing voided official checks (also known as cashier’s checks) and communicating with Redwood Credit Union’s official check vendor regarding issues pertaining to the funding and voiding of these checks.

Simontacchi also had access to checks intended for and made payable to Redwood Credit Union that were sent to the accounting department for processing, including reimbursement checks from the official check vendor and reimbursement checks from the United States Treasury Department and the State of California.

Simontacchi is accused of embezzling some of these checks, as well as official checks that had been returned to Redwood Credit Union by members and were supposed to have been voided, then depositing the checks into her personal bank accounts.

"She used the embezzled proceeds for personal expenses, including to make a payment towards her home equity line of credit," federal authorities said.

The indictment further alleges Simontacchi of evading taxes by failing to pay taxes on additional, unreported income received in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Simontacchi is charged with seven counts of bank fraud, seven counts of misapplication and embezzlement of credit union funds, and four counts of tax evasion.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 15.

Federal authorities noted that because an indictment contains allegations only, Simontacchi is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted, the maximum statutory penalties for each violation of bank fraud and embezzlement is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, and the maximum statutory penalty for each violation of tax evasion is 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.