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Hotel employee facing fraud charges after $42K goes missing

The 28-year-old Victoria woman worked as a financial controller

A former Victoria hotel employee is facing fraud charges after nearly $42,000 worth of unusual transactions on the hotel’s dime were traced to her personal bank account.

The 28-year-old Victoria woman worked as a financial controller for an unnamed downtown hotel, and allegedly diverted $41,495 from the company to her account over a 13-month period beginning May 2010.

“It was uncovered during an audit at the hotel. They discovered some of these irregularities, and took further notice that it all seemed to involve her,” said Victoria Police Department spokesperson Const. Mike Russell.

In total, police say the fraud involved 40 transactions where “unusual and high-dollar refunds” were administered.

Even after the fraudulent transactions were detected, Russell said the woman accessed the hotel’s accounts remotely and made additional withdrawals.

Stephanie Andrews was arrested on July 24 and faces one charge of fraud over $5,000.

“Financial crimes are a lot of work for our detectives. It ends up being a very large paper trail and having to connect the dots between financial institutions and transactions,” Russell said.