Posted on 07/14/2025 11:05:53 AM PDT by simpson96
For nearly a year, 29-year-old Yessica Arrua was living like a high-earning veterinarian despite working as a receptionist at a Florida horse clinic.
Thanks to a payroll mix-up, Arrua, who is originally from Argentina, allegedly pocketed more than $400,000 of another employee’s salary between February 2022 and January 2023, according to the Daily Mail. During this time, Arrua’s paychecks were nearly seven times her actual salary, according to a police report from the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.
The error went unnoticed until the Palm Beach Equine Clinic’s CFO discovered the issue and flagged it with their payroll provider, Harbor America. But what’s even more shocking is how long the payroll error went unnoticed — even the veterinarian who was supposed to be making $450,000 a year only noticed when her credit cards declined.
Arrua, a nine-year clinic employee who even knew the company’s president, is now at the center of a criminal investigation — and it was that same president who ultimately called the police.
(snip) Arrua allegedly noticed she was being overpaid and instead of reporting the error, she went on a luxury shopping spree.
The report details purchases at high-end retailers like Coach and Michael Kors, purchases at restaurants and furniture stores, and thousands of dollars sent through Zelle to someone listed as “Mama Dukes.” Investigators also discovered that $80,000 went toward buying a food truck for a friend of her mother’s. Arrua also admitted to sending additional funds to Argentina to help build a house.
She has since been formally charged with grand theft of $100,000 or more and money laundering of $100,000 or more — both first-degree felonies under Florida law.
According to Florida Statute 812.014, theft involving that amount can carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, along with steep fines.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
This one needs some Ethics counseling, Laz.
“thought it was a ‘bonus’“
Yeah sure she did.
I’m a CFO. It took this CFO a year to catch it? BS. I check payroll before it’s sent to the bank.
Uh, $400k for 11 months time frame? Who was supposed to get that?
Was that wrong?
Should she have not done that? /Costanza
I wanna be a veterinarian’s assistant and make that kind of coin.
What’s even wilder is that the person who was supposed to receive the salary didn’t notice it for a year, and only noticed it after her credit card was declined, which means she doesn’t even look at her credit card bills and pay them.
How did “the veterinarian who was supposed to be making $450,000 a year” not notice on his/her/its first erroneous paycheck that he/she/it was being grossly underpaid?
A similar instance happened at a company I used to work for.
A welder and a company vice president had the same name. One payday the welder got the VP’s paycheck by mistake.
Boy, was he surprised!.................
A similar instance happened at a company I used to work for.
A welder and a company vice president had the same name. One payday the welder got the VP’s paycheck by mistake.
Boy, was he surprised!.................
But what’s even more shocking is how long the payroll error went unnoticed — even the veterinarian who was supposed to be making $450,000 a year only noticed when her credit cards declined.
Our govt was a cashflow manager until trump arrived.
No way this was a "error".
The error went unnoticed until the Palm Beach Equine Clinic’s CFO discovered the issue
looks more like coordinated embezzlement
Right. No wonder the vet charges more to clean my dog’s teeth than my dentist charges to clean mine.
Some people, and I’ve known some of them, don’t look at anything. They assume their paychecks are being deposited in the bank, but they don’t look. They assume, as long as they still have blank checks, that they can use them. They keep using their credit cards until they’re declined. I don’t know how people can live that way, but they do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.