Police say woman embezzled more than $150K from elderly Glendale resident

The first time she did it, she added $400.

Shawna Smith, 46, scribbled the number “4” in the space she’d left on the amount line of a $91.30 check, adding hundreds of dollars to her reimbursement for a Costco run for an elderly Glendale woman who hired her to help around the house.

That was in April 2006.

Over the next decade, Glendale police said, Smith fudged the numbers on at least 55 checks, embezzling more than $150,000 from the victim.

“It started with $400, then jumped up to $1,000, then jumped to $2,000, then jumped to $5,000,” said Glendale Police Det. Matt Zakarian, who spearheaded the more than six-month investigation which involved pulling seven years’ worth of bank records.

During her arraignment Monday, Smith pleaded no contest to four counts of theft from an elder or dependent, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The remaining six counts of the charge are expected to be dropped next month.

“Ms. Smith readily acknowledged her wrongdoing,” said her attorney Ray Fountain. “She’s prepared to take responsibility. We agreed to make full restitution. Hopefully, the victim will be made whole, and my client can put this unfortunate incident behind her and just move on with her life.”

Under a negotiated plea, Smith faces four years of probation, though if she fails to pay restitution, or commits any other crimes, she’ll spend the rest of her sentence in state prison, according to Fountain.

“If she pays every dime back that she owes, that’s one way of staying out of prison,” Fountain said.

Smith, who was arrested last week, is slated to be sentenced next month.

According to police, the victim found Smith on Craigslist 16 years ago, and hired her to help unpack boxes and organize the garage after she moved to Glendale from Atwater Village.

Smith befriended the elderly woman, who is now 85 years old, and offered to handle her personal accounting when the victim’s husband, who previously handled the finances, fell ill, Zakarian said. He died in 2009.

The theft went undetected until January, when the victim’s daughter was searching for a missing deposit and stumbled upon numerous large checks to Smith. Most of them stemmed from reimbursements for trips to Costco.

That’s when the family called Glendale police.

Smith reportedly deposited the money into her own accounts, though it was not clear how she spent it.

“She trusted her,” Zakarian said, adding that people should continuously monitor their accounts and credit scores. “Families need to make sure that whoever their elders are trusting, that they’re trustworthy.”